Racial Inequality in the U.S. Unemployment Insurance System
The U.S. unemployment insurance (UI) system operates as a federal-state partner- ship, where states have considerable autonomy to decide on specific rules. While it could allow states to efficiently tailor their UI generosity level to local economic condi- tions, it could also generate racial inequality as states with a larger Black population appear to set stricter rules. Do the differences in state UI rules create racial inequal- ity, and are they are efficient?