We present quasi-experimental estimates of the effect of changes in workers' compensation benefits on benefit duration and application frequency, using administrative data for California. Our design exploits two increases in temporary disability benefits occurring during the mid-1990s. We find...

Workers' compensation systems are typically designed to assign higher permanent disability benefits to workers with more severe disabilities. However, little or no scientific work exists to guide the design of ratings systems to properly account for the amount of earnings power lost due to...

Decentralized regulation has become increasingly important in many areas; examples range from school vouchers to workplace safety committees to alternative dispute resolution procedures replacing courts. Consistent with this trend, in 1993 California permitted construction unions and employers...

This paper improves on past longitudinal estimates of the union earnings effect by using a sample of workers for whom the error in measuring changes in union status is minimized. The author uses a sample of workers displaced by plant closings from the 1994 and 1996 Current Population Survey...

This analysis of data from the 5% Census Public Use Microdata Sample shows that residence in a low-employment growth area had a strong negative effect on both the probability of being employed and the probability of being active (defined as being either employed or in school) among youths in the...