Designing an EU-wide unemployment benefits system

Cambridge Econometrics led the macroeconomic stabilisation assessment element of a study which explored whether an EU-wide Unemployment Benefits System (UBS) could act as an effective fiscal stabilizer to mitigate future economic shocks.

Outputs included: an examination of the compatibility with national laws and practices of various ways of introducing such a scheme; consideration of what difference would be made to macroeconomic stabilisation by the proposals for the European Banking Union and governance arrangements that would constrain fiscal policy; and an assessment of the impact on macroeconomic stabilisation and on the microeconomic distribution of benefits across different types of individual and household. The report made recommendations for the design of a scheme to make it most effective in promoting stabilization and least cost in terms of contributions required.

The report was developed through a consortium led by the Centre for European Policy Studies and included Cambridge Econometrics, the Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), the Institute for Social and Economic Research at the University of Essex (ISER), Eftheia and the University of Leuven.

To discuss this, or similar research, please contact Richard Lewney.