Recessions Are Bad for Workplace Safety

Jan Boone, Jan van Ours, Jean-Philippe Wuellrich () and Josef Zweimüller ()
Additional contact information
Jean-Philippe Wuellrich: University of Zurich

No 5688, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: Workplace accidents are an important economic phenomenon. Yet, the pro-cyclical fluctuations in workplace accidents are not well understood. They could be related to fluctuations in effort and working hours, but workplace accidents may also be affected by reporting behavior. Our paper uses unique data on workplace accidents from an Austrian matched worker-firm dataset to study in detail how economic incentives affect workplace accidents. We find that workers who reported an accident in a particular period of time are more likely to be fired later on. And, we find support for the idea that recessions influence the reporting of moderate workplace accidents: if workers think the probability of dismissals at the firm level is high, they are less likely to report a moderate workplace accident.

Keywords: cyclical fluctuations; economic incentives; workplace accidents (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I10 J60 J81 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 35 pages
Date: 2011-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (48)

Published - published in: Journal of Health Economics, 2011, 30 (4), 764-773

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Related works:
Journal Article: Recessions are bad for workplace safety (2011)
Working Paper: Recessions are bad for workplace safety (2011)
Working Paper: Recessions are Bad for Workplace Safety (2011)
Working Paper: Recessions are Bad for Workplace Safety (2011)
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