World Bank, USA, and IZA, Germany
IZA World of Labor role
Author, Former Editor
Current position
Manager Jobs Group and Lead Economist, the World Bank, USA
Research interest
Insurance programs, labor regulations, and labor markets; skills and active labor market programs; incentives to save among informal sector workers; subsistence entrepreneurs and livelihoods; job search models
Positions/functions as a policy advisor
Has advised governments in over 40 countries on issues related to labor, social insurance, and labor policies
Past positions
Research Fellow, RAND Corporation, USA
Qualifications
PhD Economics, RAND Corporation—Graduate School, 2008
Selected publications
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Social Insurance, Informality and Labor Markets. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014 (with M. Frölich, D. Kaplan, C. Pagés, and J. Rigolini).
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From Right to Reality. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press and the World Bank, 2012 (with H. Ribe and I. Walker).
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The Right Skills for the Job? Washington, DC: World Bank Human Development Series, 2012 (with R. Almeida and J. Behrman).
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Designing unemployment benefits in developing countries
For unemployment benefit programs, the key policy issues are the level of benefits and subsidies and the types of taxes used to finance them
David A. Robalino, July 2014In reforming unemployment benefit systems, the policy debate should be on the appropriate level of benefits, the subsidies needed for people who cannot contribute enough, and how to finance the subsidies, rather than on whether unemployment insurance or individual unemployment savings accounts are better. Unemployment insurance finances subsidies through implicit taxes on savings, while individual savings accounts with solidarity funds finance subsidies through payroll taxes. Taxes on certain consumption goods and real estate could be considered as well and could be less distortionary.MoreLess