期刊名称：IFS Working Papers / Institute for Fiscal Studies London
电子版ISSN：1742-0415
出版年度：2005
卷号：2005
期号：1
出版社：Institute for Fiscal Studies London
摘要：Job losers exhibit significant heterogeneity in wealth holdings and in the marginal propensity to consume transitory income. We consider potential sources of this heterogeneity, whether (some of) the unemployed face borrowing constraints, and the implications of this heterogeneity for unemployment insurance. We show theoretically how the
optimal benefit can depend significantly on borrowing constraints, and on other (non-
precautionary) savings motives. We report empirical evidence that (i) a quarter of job
losers cannot borrow for current consumption, (ii) this constraint is binding for a much
smaller fraction, and (iii) that \'excess sensitivity\' is not limited to the constrained
