The incentive effects of tightened UIB entitlement rules – Empirical evidence from three Nordic countries

Abstract

In this paper we analyse the impact of reforms that tightened the entitlement rules for UIB in a similar fashion in three Nordic countries Denmark, Finland and Norway in 1997. We identify the effect of the reforms in UIB entitlement conditions by exploiting the quasi-experimental feature of the reforms. Our results show that after the reform, only in Denmark the unemployed job seekers, who were affected by the reform, had a higher overall likelihood to exit to open employment. In Finland, positive reform effects were only found among those subgroups of unemployed job seekers who had relatively high demand in the labour market. In Norway, we found positive employment effects for males but not for females. Moreover, the overall pattern is an increased likelihood of exiting from the labour market.

• ISSN: 1795-1801
• ISBN: 978-952-209-056-0
• JEL: J64, J65
• Publication in PDF-format