Working Paper: CEPR ID: DP15038
Authors: Gerard van den Berg; Iris Kesternich; Gerrit Mueller; Bettina Siflinger
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 unique register data on all unemployed coached by the same team of caseworkers and their treatments. We find that the combination of a high negative reciprocity and a strict regime has a negative interaction effect on search effort. The results are stronger for males than for females. Strict regimes may thus 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
JEL Codes: J64; D91; I38
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Negative reciprocity (D64) | Job search effort (J68) |
| Strictness of caseworker regime (I38) | Job search effort (J68) |