Honors Theses
Date of Award
2015
Document Type
Undergraduate Thesis
Department
Public Policy Leadership
First Advisor
Melissa Bass
Relational Format
Dissertation/Thesis
Abstract
Unemployment Insurance (UI), in its many forms, has historically been a cornerstone of developed countries' social policy. However, since the financial crisis and following recession in 2008, the American schema of UI has experienced great strain and scrutiny. This undergraduate thesis explores the detailed intricacies of the United States's approach to UI in a post-2008 America, and looks to the Chilean Unemployment Insurance system as a source of potential reform ideas. The paper details the current operations and conceptual underpinnings of the two programs through in-depth case studies, and offers trans-national suggestions for reform. In the case studies, I explain the political history, logistics, evaluations, and recommended changes for each national program. I analyze the two systems through application of the golden triangle model. The golden triangle, while originally only applied to the Danish system of UI, provides key insight into the three basic variables in an UI system. Therefore, this paper seeks to apply a Danish conceptual framework to the U.S. and Chilean systems. As a result, this paper identifies strong potentials for reform of the U.S. system, including an increase in the taxable wage bases, the incorporation of personalized savings accounts, and full integration of technical training for the long-term unemployed.
Recommended Citation
Lansdell, Channing, "Unemployment Insurance in a Post-2008 America: Lessons from Chile" (2015). Honors Theses. 175.
https://egrove.olemiss.edu/hon_thesis/175
Accessibility Status
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