Reciprocity and the interaction between the unemployed and the caseworker

Gerard J. van den Berg (), Iris Kesternich, Gerrit Müller () and Bettina M. Siinger ()
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Gerard J. van den Berg: University of Bristol, Postal: University of Bristol, University of Groningen, IFAU Uppsala, J-PAL, IZA, ZEW, CEPR., gerard.vandenberg@bristol.ac.uk
Gerrit Müller: Institute for Employment Research, Postal: Institute for Employment Research
Bettina M. Siinger: Tilburg University, Netspar, Postal: Tilburg University, Netspar, CESIfo. E-mail:

No 2020:13, Working Paper Series from IFAU - Institute for Evaluation of Labour Market and Education Policy

Abstract: We investigate how negatively reciprocal traits of unemployed individuals interact with "sticks" policies imposing constraints on individual job search effort in the context of the German welfare system. For this we merge survey data of long-term unemployed individuals, containing indicators of reciprocity as a personality trait, to a unique set of register data on all unemployed coached by the same team of caseworkers and their treatments. We find that the combination of a higher negative reciprocity and a stricter regime have a negative interaction effect on search effort exerted by the unemployed. The results are stronger for males than for females. Stricter regimes may therefore drive long-term unemployed males with certain types of social preferences further away from the labor market.

Keywords: behavioral response; active labor market policy; monitoring; welfare; job search. (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D91 I38 J64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 36 pages
Date: 2020-09-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-lab and nep-soc
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Related works:
Journal Article: Reciprocity and the interaction between the unemployed and the caseworker (2024)
Working Paper: Reciprocity and the Interaction Between the Unemployed and the Caseworker (2020)
Working Paper: Reciprocity and the Interaction between the Unemployed and the Caseworker (2019)
Working Paper: Reciprocity and the Interaction between the Unemployed and the Caseworker (2019)
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