The Impact of Unemployment Insurance Benefit Cuts on Mental Health: Evidence From Early Pandemic Program Expirations
利用2021年夏季20多个州提前终止联邦疫情失业补偿和疫情失业援助项目这一准自然实验，发现失业金削减使无大学学历的劳动者焦虑症状增加，但影响仅持续约1个月，经济困难是主要机制。
This study is the first to estimate the effects of unemployment insurance (UI) benefit contractions on mental health. We leverage a unique quasi-natural experiment: early termination of the Federal Pandemic Unemployment Compensation (FPUC) and Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) programs across more than 20 states during the summer of 2021. Using high-frequency data from the Census Bureau's Household Pulse Survey (HPS), our difference-in-differences estimates suggest that early withdrawal from FPUC and PUA increases the probability of reporting anxiety symptoms among working-age adults without a college degree, a group particularly vulnerable to unexpected income shocks. The adverse effects are more pronounced among racial and ethnic minorities, older individuals, and women. However, the increase in anxiety symptoms is short-lived, persisting for about 1 month after the benefit cessation. Finally, we find evidence that financial hardship is a likely mechanism underlying these findings.