Both of these papers also conclude that the optimal generosity of UI rises in a recession, because its role in smoothing consumption for unemployed workers who are liquidity constrained becomes more important. However, this evidence must be viewed as very preliminary and weighed against the much more extensive evidence supporting a link between permanent increases in benefit generosity and duration, and increases in the equilibrium unemployment rate associated with a stable rate of inflation (the so-called “NAIRU”) (De Serres et al., In Canada, both the number of hours required to qualify for regular benefits as well as regular employment insurance (El) benefit duration automatically vary based on the unemployment rate in the region where unemployed individuals live (there are 58 economic regions across Canada). Building on the automatic features of the regular El benefit programme, a discretionary choice was made to temporarily extend El benefit duration for long-tenured workers in 2009 and 2010.54 In Israel, benefit coverage was temporarily extended through a reduced qualifying period (i.e. having worked nine out of the last 18 months instead of 12 out of 18 months) conditional on the national unemployment rate exceeding 7.5%.