Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/35603 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 3825
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Labor market programs may affect unemployed individuals' behavior before they enroll. Such ex ante effects are hard to identify without model assumptions. We develop a novel method that relates self-reported perceived treatment rates and job-search behavioral outcomes, like the reservation wage, to each other, among newly unemployed workers. Job search theory is used to derive theoretical predictions. To deal with effect heterogeneity and selectivity, the effects of interest are estimated by propensity score matching. We apply the method to the German ALMP system, using a novel data set including self-reported assessments of the variables of interest as well as an unusually detailed amount of information on behavior, attitudes, and past outcomes. We find that the system generates a negative ex ante effect on the reservation wage and a positive effect on search effort.
Subjects: 
Policy evaluation
reservation wage
search effort
expectations
unemployment duration
program evaluation
active labor market policy
identification
JEL: 
J64
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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