Assessing the Eeect of Economic Incentives on Incidence and Duration of Work Absence

The incidence and duration of work absence spells for a sample of Swedish blue collar workers in 1991 are analyzed using the KaplanMeier estimator, discrete time hazard regression as well as strati ed Cox regression. The main interest is directed towards the e ect of economic incentives. The e ect of a decrease in the replacement level of the compulsory Swedish sickness insurance that took place in March 1991 is analyzed. The incidence of work absence spells decreases markedly after the reform, although no e ects on the duration of the spell is found. Signi cant male-female di erences are also found. The main results are robust to the di erent methods used. Key word and phrases: discrete time Cox regression; sickness insurance; strati ed Cox regression. JEL Classi cation: J22, C41.