http://www.people.hbs.edu/rditella/papers/JoLEUnBenefits.pdf

https://calhoun.nps.edu/bitstream/handle/10945/43824/Arkes_Using_Unemployment_2013.pdf;sequence=4

http://ec.europa.eu/economy_finance/publications/economic_paper/2012/pdf/ecb454_en.pdf

https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.4284/sej.2010.76.3.711

Hi Hamit,

thanks for the answer. I'm a bit confused, though, because non of the papers you posted use an instrument FOR the unemployment rate. The first and the third talk about policy "instruments" regarding unemployment. The other use unemployment rate AS an instrument for educational attainment. Neither is useful for me, or did I miss sth. here? To clarify: I'm looking for an instrument variable, in the econometric sense, FOR the unemployment rate. So does anyone else have an idea? And please don't just google the words "instrument" and "unemployment" and then post the links to the papers that appear first.

Regards,

Tim

Hi Tim,

Why not you try the ratio of social security to GDP. The higher/lower the level of the social security of a given country it is more likely to encourage/discourage individuals job search effort, thereby affect the level of unemployment in a given society.