This working paper introduces an innovative test of the quantitative performance of search and matching models that uses information that is becoming available through social experiments. It presents a prototypical Pissarides matching model and calibrates it to control group data from the Self-Sufficiency Project (SSP).
Then a program group is simulated from a randomized experiment within the model, and the outcomes are compared with those of the program group from SSP to determine whether the model is an appropriate tool to use in estimating the behavioural response to SSP.
Published: March 2006
Capability: Experimentation
Policy Area: Income Security - Welfare and Employment
Population: EI Recipients - Low-income Populations - Low-skilled Workers - Social Assistance Recipients - Women - Communities and Families
Type: Working paper