TY - JOUR

T1 - Poland on the dole

T2 - The effect of reducing the unemployment benefit entitlement period during transition

AU - Puhani, Patrick A.

N1 - Funding Information Financial support from the EU-Commission under the project `Unemployment during Economic Transition' is gratefully acknowledged. I am indebted to Viktor Steiner, Centre for European Economic Research (ZEW), Mannheim, and three anonymous referees for many helpful suggestions. Many thanks go to Professor Jan Witkowski, Central Statistical OΩce (GUS) and Warsaw School of Economics, without whom this research would not have been possible, for his cooperation and advice within this project. I also thank my colleagues Herbert S. Buscher and Florian Kraus, as well as Professor Eugeniusz Kwiatkowski and Leszek Kucharski, University of Lodz, for helpful suggestions and translations. Many thanks also go to Stefan Leiderer, Christian Rauch, and Anja Triebe for excellent research assistance. All remaining errors are my own. Responsible editor: Christoph M. Schmidt.

PY - 2000/3

Y1 - 2000/3

N2 - We analyse the unemployment benefit regime change that occurred in Poland in December 1991 using data from the Polish Labour Force Survey. Before December 1991, the entitlement period to unemployment benefits was unlimited. Thereafter, it was reduced to 12 months (with a few exceptions). Using the difference-in-differences approach within a hazard rate framework, we find that the regime change did not have a significant effect on the duration of unemployment. The results thus give credence to the view that the unlimited entitlement period of the old unemployment benefit regime was not the main culprit for the long durations of unemployment in Poland, although the generous eligibility criteria may have contributed to the increase in the incidence of registered unemployment at the beginning of the transition process.

AB - We analyse the unemployment benefit regime change that occurred in Poland in December 1991 using data from the Polish Labour Force Survey. Before December 1991, the entitlement period to unemployment benefits was unlimited. Thereafter, it was reduced to 12 months (with a few exceptions). Using the difference-in-differences approach within a hazard rate framework, we find that the regime change did not have a significant effect on the duration of unemployment. The results thus give credence to the view that the unlimited entitlement period of the old unemployment benefit regime was not the main culprit for the long durations of unemployment in Poland, although the generous eligibility criteria may have contributed to the increase in the incidence of registered unemployment at the beginning of the transition process.

KW - Poland

KW - Unemployment benefits

KW - Unemployment durations

UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=0034350198&partnerID=8YFLogxK

U2 - 10.1007/s001480050121

DO - 10.1007/s001480050121

M3 - Article

AN - SCOPUS:0034350198

VL - 13

SP - 35

EP - 44

JO - Journal of population economics

JF - Journal of population economics

SN - 0933-1433

IS - 1

ER -