Sickness absence has risen over the past years in Norway. One explanation put forward is that a tougher labor market represents a health hazard, while a competing hypothesis predicts that loss of job security works as a disciplinary device. In this analysis we aim to trace a causal impact of...

An important externality of smoking is the harm it might cause to those who do not smoke. This paper examines the impact on birth outcomes of children of female workers who are affected by smoking bans in the workplace. Analyzing a 2004 law change in Norway that extended smoking restrictions to...

This paper analyzes the long-term sickness absences in Sweden using a longitudinal database that contains all compensated sickness spells for 2,789 persons during 1986-1991. Given the political focus on the improved collaboration between the individual, physician, employer, and social insurance...

In this paper, we analyze exits from long-term sickness spells in Sweden. Using spell data for more than 2500 people, aged 20-64 years during 1986-1991, and who had at least one sickness spell of at least 60 days during 1986-1989, the aim is to analyze the transition to different states, i.e.,...

The number of disability exits has been increasing in recent years, raising questions both about the well being of affected individuals, and about how to finance the related disability pensions. Using a longitudinal database owned by the Swedish National Social Insurance Board, this study...

Workers with difficult working conditions can be expected to be com-pensated by higher wages. They may, for example, choose shift work because of compensating wages but it is also possible that they prefer shift work. The previous empirical evidence is mixed. We study if there are compensating...

This paper examines whether sickness history affects annual earnings and/or hourly wages in Sweden, using a unique longitudinal database. If poor health makes people less productive, previous sickness is expected to have a negative effect on hourly wages. If poor health reduces people’s...

This paper analyzes the effects of being on part-time sick leave compared to full-time sick leave on the probability of recovering (i.e., returning to work with full recovery of lost work capacity). Using a discrete choice one-factor model, we estimate mean treatment parameters and...

The question addressed in this paper is whether sickness history affects annual earnings and hourly wages in Sweden. If poor health makes people less productive, we expect to find a negative effect of previous health history on hourly wages. If, instead, poor health reduces people´s working...

Sickness absence tends to be negatively correlated with unemployment. This may suggest disciplining effects of unemployment but may also reflect changes in the composition of the labour force. A panel of Norwegian register data for the years 1990-1995 is used to analyse sickness absences lasting...