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Norwegian

Health and sick leave - policy makers' trade-offs

Link to article:

[PDF]

Authors:

Markussen, Simen

Year:

2010

Reference:

Andre skrifter

Summary

This paper is built on a simple idea that work is healthy for healthy workers, while it may delay recovery for sick workers. Its main novelty is that it sets out a theory designed to integrate this simple idea into a more standard labor supply model, where workers trade o¤ absence and leisure against the economic loss in- volved. A calibrated version of this model is then used to discuss optimal sickness insurance policies. The results are: (i) there is a con‡ict between maximizing health and minimizing sick leave, (ii) optimal sick-leave bene…ts are neither zero nor 100 percent, (iii) a calibrated version of the model predicts optimal sick-leave bene…ts to be around 70 percent of earnings.

Project:

Oppdragsgiver: Norges forskningsråd
Oppdragsgivers prosjektnr.:
Frisch prosjekt: 1134 - A viable welfare state