Unemployment Insurance, Wage Pass-Through, and Endogenous Take-Up

This research explores how expanded unemployment insurance during COVID-19 impacted worker behavior. The authors find that while higher benefits modestly increase reservation and re-employment wages, the biggest shift comes from more people choosing to claim benefits at all. Using BAM and CPS data, they show that take-up rates rose significantly and composition changes muted wage effects. Their model explains why policy generosity influences who files more than how much they demand in pay.