The article estimates that eliminating idiosyncratic consumption shocks unrelated to the business cycle could increase household utility by 47.3%, while eliminating idiosyncratic shocks related to the business cycle could increase utility by 3.4%. The benefits of eliminating aggregate shocks are estimated to be 7.7% of utility. The study suggests that policies should focus on insuring against idiosyncratic shocks unrelated to the business cycle, like the death of a household's main wage earner or job layoffs not tied to recessions.