“…The evidence on this point is mixed. While US and UK studies typically provide benefit elasticity estimates (the elasticity of unemployment duration with respect to the level of the unemployment benefit) ranging from 0.2 to 0.9 (Moffitt, 1985;Narendranathan et al, 1985;Katz and Meyer, 1990;Meyer, 1990;Card and Levine, 1998), European elasticity estimates differ widely, from virtually zero (Hujer and Schneider, 1989;Groot, 1990;van den Berg, 1990;Steiner, 1990;Hernaes and Strøm, 1996) to above unity (Abbring et al, 1998;Carling et al (1999).…”