Stephen Woodbury

First name
Stephen
Middle name
A.
Last name
Woodbury
Abstract
Effective administration of unemployment insurance (UI) is central to its ability to smooth consumption and act as an automatic stabilizer. The federal government’s method of allocating funds to administer UI gives the states no incentive to provide quality service at reasonable cost. We first document the deteriorating performance of the UI system in recent recessions and present estimates of a descriptive model relating state workloads to performance. We then characterize UI administration as a standard principal-agent problem, which leads to a method of allocating funds that would motivate states to adopt new technologies and improve performance. 
Year of Publication
2022
Number
653
Date Published
01/2022
Mas, A., Lachowska, M., & Woodbury, S. A. (2022). Poor Performance as a Predictable Outcome: Financing the Administration of Unemployment Insurance. Retrieved from http://arks.princeton.edu/ark:/88435/dsp01v405sd53v (Original work published January 2022)
Working Papers