Unemployment Insurance:  I was unable to find one good short text for this topic, so we'll use a "web-text" compilation, instead!

http://www.itsc.state.md.us/data_stats/data_stats.html
Provides a listing and live links to MANY data sources of unemployment and unemployment insurance statistics of the state and federal governments

http://www.itsc.state.md.us/directory/directory/map.html
A WAY COOL interactive map of all the U.S. states with live links to their UI departments

http://www.li.state.pa.us/ucb/bucba/index.html
A full service site describing almost anything you would want to know about the unemployment insurance program

http://www.tlsc.org/erp5.html
Site of the Texas Workforce Commission.  Includes examples of things which are NOT considered misconduct (misconduct on the job normally disqualifies you from benefits).  Also includes discussion of the appeals process and gives hints on how to best present your case.

http://www.nhworks.state.nh.us/faq/nhfreq.htm
"UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION QUESTIONS and ANSWERS for the PERSON FILING for UNEMPLOYMENT COMPENSATION".  Includes a table of benefits (it is dated 1995, even though this is a current web site!  The home page of the New Hampshire Employment Security Department says it is updated daily! )

http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~noelroy/impact.text.html
"The Impact of Social Insurance on the Length of the Fishing Season", Dr. Noel Roy, Department of Economics, Memorial University of Newfoundland, St. John's NF, Canada

This is a completely serious economic analysis of how the Unemployment Insurance program in Canada affects the choices of individuals about how much work to do.   The marginal costs and benefits of fishing vs. unemployment benefits are compared.  

http://www.cccbi.org/ccjobcenter/ucprg.html
Includes a decent discussion of how benefits are calculated. 

http://www.dms-lawyer.com/area/unemploy.htm
This site belongs to a law firm that specializes in employment law litigation.   The feature of the site that is attractive for purposes of this class is the section which discusses what happens if you disagree with the UI board's decisions and want to appeal for more benefits.

http://209.140.192.174/samples/adlib/adlib.asp
This is a cool search service for court and appeals board decisions about UI cases.   It is specific to Connecticutt, but federal courts are included, except U.S. Supreme Court.  You can search by case specifics, or using key words.

http://papers.nber.org/papers/W5889
"A Distinctive System: Origins and Impact of U.S.Unemployment Compensation" Katherine Baicker, Claudia Goldin, Lawrence F. Katz .  Abstract of this paper.