Unemployment insurance is a key tool for risk sharing and redistribution and also a prominent automatic
stabiliser. It is a volatile spending item by design, which can lead to vulnerabilities. This paper explores
various shocks and sources of vulnerability of the unemployment insurance schemes of OECD and
BRIICS countries. Policies that boost both financial resilience and benefit adequacy as well as policy
trade-offs are explored. Four country clusters are identified with key similarities in the overall policy mix
that can shed light on why some countries boast generous benefits and at the same time display high
economic efficiency, while other countries face a much more pronounced trade-off.
