The Effects of Expanding the Generosity of the Statutory Sickness Insurance System

Nicolas Ziebarth () and Martin Karlsson

No 7250, IZA Discussion Papers from Institute of Labor Economics (IZA)

Abstract: This article evaluates an expansion of employer-mandated sick leave from 80 to 100 percent of forgone gross wages in Germany. We employ and compare parametric difference-in-difference (DID), matching DID, and mixed approaches. Overall workplace attendance decreased by at least 10 percent or 1 day per worker per year. We show that taking partial compliance into account increases coefficient estimates. Further, heterogeneity in response behavior was of great importance. There is no evidence that the increase in sick leave improved employee health, a finding that supports a shirking explanation. Finally, we provide evidence on potential labor market adjustments to the reform.

Keywords: natural experiment; difference-in-differences estimation; SOEP; generosity of social insurance; employer sick leave mandate; sickness absence (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H51 I18 J22 J32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 51 pages
Date: 2013-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-hrm, nep-ias and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (17)

Published - short version published in: Journal of Applied Econometrics , 2014, 29(2), 208-230

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https://docs.iza.org/dp7250.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Journal Article: THE EFFECTS OF EXPANDING THE GENEROSITY OF THE STATUTORY SICKNESS INSURANCE SYSTEM (2014)
Working Paper: The Effects of Expanding the Generosity of the Statutory Sickness Insurance System (2009)
Working Paper: The effects of expanding the generosity of the statutory sickness insurance system (2009)
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