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Modelling the Probability of Leaving Unemployment: Competing Risks Models with Flexible Base‐Line Hazards
Author(s) -
Narendranathan Wiji,
Stewart Mark B.
Publication year - 1993
Publication title -
journal of the royal statistical society: series c (applied statistics)
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.205
H-Index - 72
eISSN - 1467-9876
pISSN - 0035-9254
DOI - 10.2307/2347410
Subject(s) - unemployment , econometrics , statistics , base (topology) , mathematics , economics , economic growth , mathematical analysis
SUMMARY Unemployment durations are generally modelled by using survival analysis. In the past, in Britain, all such studies have not only used very restrictive parametric specifications of the hazard functions, most commonly Weibull in form, but also only modelled unemployment durations without distinguishing the nature of the exit. These restrictions potentially bias the estimated effects, particularly those of the time varying economic variables and the base‐line hazard. When we use semiparametric methods to estimate models with completely unrestricted base‐line hazards, we find the restrictions implied by the Weibull specification to be rejected for Britain. We then use a competing risks model to distinguish exit into a job from other exits. We find that the single‐risk model of exit understates the effects of income in and out of work on the probability of entering a job.