Income risk and the benefits of social insurance
Subtitle: evidence from Indonesia and the United States
By: Raj Chetty, Adam Looney.
Contributors: Looney, Adam.; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series ;; working paper 11708; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) ;; working paper no. 11708.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Subjects: Social security -- Economic aspects -- Indonesia.; Social security -- Economic aspects -- United States.; Social security -- Economic aspects -- Developing countries.; Income -- Indonesia.; Income -- United States.; Income -- Developing countries.
Description: "This paper examines the welfare consequences of social safety nets in developing economies relative to developed economies.  Using panel surveys of households in Indonesia and the United States, we find that food consumption falls by approximately ten percent when individuals become unemployed in both countries.  This finding suggests that introducing a formal social insurance program would have small benefits in terms of reducing consumption fluctuations in Indonesia.  However, in contrast with households in the U.S., Indonesians use costly methods such as reducing human capital investment to smooth consumption.  The primary benefit of social insurance in developing countries may therefore come not from consumption smoothing itself but from reducing the use of inefficientsmoothing methods"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
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Mode of access: World Wide Web.