Unemployment benefits extensions at the zero lower bound on nominal interest rate

Julien Albertini and Arthur Poirier

No 2014-019, SFB 649 Discussion Papers from Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk

Abstract: In this paper we investigate the impact of the recent US unemployment benefits extension on the labor market dynamic when the nominal interest rate is held at the zero lower bound (ZLB). Using a New Keynesian model, our quantitative experiments suggest that, in contrast to the existing literature that ignores the liquidity trap situation, unemployment benefits expansions cause a wage and inflationary pressure which curb the increase in real interest rate and slightly reduce unemployment at the ZLB. Outside the ZLB, it has adverse effects, meaning that unemployment insurance benefits should be adjusted according to the macroeconomic conditions if the scope is to reduce unemployment. Furthermore, the ZLB amplifies the labor market downturn. An unconstrained monetary policy rule, i.e. negative interest rate, could have reduced the unemployment rate by around 1 percentage point in the trough of the recession.

Keywords: Zero lower bound; New Keynesian models; Matching frictions; Monetary policy; Unemployment benefits extensions (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E24 E31 E32 E43 E52 E62 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2014
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.econstor.eu/bitstream/10419/93223/1/780046668.pdf (application/pdf)

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:zbw:sfb649:sfb649dp2014-019

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in SFB 649 Discussion Papers from Humboldt University Berlin, Collaborative Research Center 649: Economic Risk Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics ().