How Long Should We Keep Bribing People Not to Work?

Three Republican senators raised an alarm in late March: Congress’s multi-trillion-dollar coronavirus bill would boost unemployment benefits by $600 a week — such a large amount that many people would make more if they were laid off than they would if they continued working.

It turned out there was a stupid, embarrassing backstory behind this provision. States administer unemployment benefits using antiquated computer systems, and they couldn’t process a new benefit formula that was even mildly complicated. If lawmakers wanted to hike unemployment benefits during the worst part of the...