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Public Economics Lectures Part 1: Introduction

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Replacement Rate<br />

Common measure of program’s size is its “replacement rate”<br />

r =<br />

net benefit<br />

net wage<br />

UI reduces agents’effective wage rate from finding a new job to<br />

w(1 − r)<br />

Feldstein (1978): UI makes effective wages very low because of<br />

interaction with tax system:<br />

(0.5)w<br />

1970: No tax ⇒ r =<br />

(1−.18−.05−.07)w = 72%<br />

Incentives worse for some subgroups: secondary income earner faces<br />

MTR of 50% ⇒ r = 1.3<br />

Today, federal income taxes paid on UI benefits, so rep. rate is<br />

50-60%<br />

<strong>Public</strong> <strong>Economics</strong> <strong>Lectures</strong> () <strong>Part</strong> 6: Social Insurance 34 / 207

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