The BU Ratio: Prospect and Retrospect

Timothy C. Sargent

Working Papers-Department of Finance Canada from Department of Finance Canada

Abstract: This purpose of this paper is to examine the recent fall in the BU ratio — the ratio of EI beneficiaries to the unemployed. To what extent is this fall due to programme changes, and to what extent is it a temporary phenomenon related to the recession of the early 1990s? To answer these questions we construct an aggregate time series model of the relationship between the BU ratio and the labour market, using our previously developed EI Disincentives Index. This model is then used to analyze the path of the BU ratio in recent years and to project its behaviour in the future given certain assumptions about the future path of unemployment.

Ce document analyse la baisse du ratio PC — le ratio du nombre de prestataires ordinaires d’assurance-emploi sur le nombre de chômeurs — depuis les années quatre-vingts. Quelle partie de ce déclin est due aux changements dans le programme assurance-emploi, et quelle proportion est due à la récession des années quatre-vingt dix ? Pour répondre à cette question, nous construisons un model économétrique de la relation entre le ratio PC et le marché du travail, en utilisant notre indice des effets dissuasifs du système d'assurance-emploi. Ce modèle est alors utilisé pour analyser le comportement du ratio PC et pour faire une prévision de son comportement dans l’avenir, étant donné certaines hypothèses sur le comportement du taux de chômage.

References: Add references at CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

Downloads: (external link)
http://www.fin.gc.ca/scripts/Publication_Request/r ... p?doc=wp1998-09e.pdf
Our link check indicates that this URL is bad, the error code is: 500 Can't connect to www.fin.gc.ca:80 (No such host is known. )

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:fca:wpfnca:1998-09

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers-Department of Finance Canada from Department of Finance Canada Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Gustavo Durango ( this e-mail address is bad, please contact ).