The objective of this paper is to study if taxpayers behave in a loss averse manner when filing their tax returns. This is important for tax design but also for understanding human behavior in general. The predictions of prospect theory can be contrasted to those of expected utility theory. We...

Hausman (1978) developed a widely-used model specification test that has passed the test of time. The test is based on two estimators, one being consistent under the null hypothesis but inconsistent under the alternative, and the other being consistent under both the null and alternative...

This paper examines the determinants of very low birth weight infant (or neonatal) mortality using the Taiwan National Health Insurance Research database from 1997 to 2009. After infants are discharged from hospital, it is not possible to track their mortality, so the Cox proportional hazard...

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...

In March 2009, Business and Economic Research Limited ("BERL") published “Costs of Harmful Alcohol and Other Drug Use,” a report jointly commissioned by the Ministry of Health and ACC. BERL was asked to measure the costs of drug and alcohol abuse to New Zealand society, but not to evaluate...

This work carries out an empirical evaluation of the impact of the main mechanism for regulating the prices of medicines in the UK on a variety of pharmaceutical price indices. The empirical evidence shows that the overall impact of the rate of return cap appears to have been slight or even...

The goal of this paper is to analyze short term-absences from work (i.e., periods of seven days or less) in Sweden during a period with two different reforms. As a theoretical model we use a utility-maximization framework with two restrictions (time and budget constraints). Using multiple spell...

Using a longitudinal data for about 1800 persons observed between 1986 and 1991, this study investigates the incentive effects on short-term sickness spells of two important regime changes in the social insurance system in Sweden implemented in 1987 and 1991. The results indicate that the rules...

Using a contingent valuation survey, people’s willingness to pay for a given risk reduction is found to be much larger when traveling by air compared to by taxi. Follow-up questions revealed that an important reason for this discrepancy is that many experience a higher mental suffering from...

The aim of this paper is to analyze business owners’ expected changes in turnover due to a general smoking ban in restaurants, bars and cafés in Sweden. This is accomplished using a survey mailed out to all 642 restaurants, bars, cafés and nightclubs in Gothenburg. The results show that the...