Cash-on-Hand and Competing Models of Intertemporal Behavior: New Evidence from the Labor Market

69 Pages Posted: 20 Nov 2006 Last revised: 16 Jul 2022

See all articles by David Card

David Card

University of California, Berkeley - Department of Economics; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA); National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Raj Chetty

University of California, Berkeley - Department of Economics; National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

Andrea Weber

Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO); Vienna University of Economics and Business; Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA); CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

Date Written: October 2006

Abstract

This paper presents new tests of the permanent income hypothesis and other widely used models of household behavior using data from the labor market. We estimate the "excess sensitivity" of job search behavior to cash-on-hand using sharp discontinuities in eligibility for severance pay and extended unemployment insurance (UI) benefits in Austria. Analyzing data for over one-half million job losers, we obtain three empirical results: (1) a lump-sum severance payment equal to two months of earnings reduces the job-finding rate by 8-12% on average; (2) an extension of the potential duration of UI benefits from 20 weeks to 30 weeks similarly lowers job-finding rates in the first 20 weeks of search by 5-9%; and (3) increases in the duration of search induced by the two programs have little or no effect on subsequent job match quality. Using a search theoretic model, we show that estimates of the relative effect of severance pay and extended benefits can be used to calibrate and test a wide set of intertemporal models. Our estimates of this ratio are inconsistent with the predictions of a standard permanent income model, as well as naive "rule of thumb" behavior. The representative job searcher in our data is 70% of the way between the permanent income benchmark and credit-constrained behavior in terms of sensitivity to cash-on-hand.

Suggested Citation

Card, David E. and Chetty, Nadarajan (Raj) and Weber, Andrea Michaela and Weber, Andrea Michaela, Cash-on-Hand and Competing Models of Intertemporal Behavior: New Evidence from the Labor Market (October 2006). NBER Working Paper No. w12639, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=938965

David E. Card (Contact Author)

University of California, Berkeley - Department of Economics ( email )

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Nadarajan (Raj) Chetty

University of California, Berkeley - Department of Economics ( email )

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National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER)

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Andrea Michaela Weber

Vienna University of Economics and Business ( email )

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Austrian Institute of Economic Research (WIFO) ( email )

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Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA)

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Bonn, D-53072
Germany

CESifo (Center for Economic Studies and Ifo Institute)

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