Unemployment and consumption near and far away from the Mediterranean

Publication type

Journal Article

Authors

Publication date

June 1, 2008

Abstract:

We study the insurance mechanisms employed by households to absorb unemployment shocks using comparable data for four countries: Italy, Spain, Great Britain, and the US. Results on family transfers when the male household head becomes unemployed suggest that family networks are the weakest in Britain, while unemployment benefits there are instead the most generous across the four countries. Despite these differences, food consumption losses induced by unemployment of the male household head are similar across countries. These findings are consistent with the view that family support and the Welfare State substitute each other in mitigating the consequences of unemployment shocks.

Published in

Journal of Population Economics

Volume

Volume: 21 (2):255-280

DOI

http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s00148-006-0081-z

Subjects

Notes

Springer search

Originally 'Online First' 2007

Albert Sloman Library Periodicals *restricted to Univ. Essex registered users*

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