Unemployed workers suffer from poor health conditions, a fact which is documented by a large number of studies covering objective health measures, satisfaction with health status and mortality. This paper contributes to the literature with an empirical analysis of sick leave micro-data from...

In many countries, social security insures firms against their workers' sickness absences. The insurance may create a moral hazard for firms, leading to inefficient monitoring of absences or to an underinvestment in the prevention of absences. We exploit an administrative threshold in the...

In many countries, social security insures firms against their workers' sickness absences. The insurance may create a moral hazard for firms, leading to inefficient monitoring of absences or to an underinvestment in the prevention of absences. We exploit an administrative threshold in the...

We estimate sickness absences on Mondays and Fridays which fall between a weekend and public holidays, so called "bridging days". Many public holidays change their day of the week over the years. We find that sickness absences are considerably lower on bridging days than on regular Mondays and...

We estimate sickness absences on Mondays and Fridays which fall between a weekend and public holidays, so called "bridging days". Many public holidays change their day of the week over the years. We find that sickness absences are considerably lower on bridging days than on regular Mondays and...