Sickness absence and local cultures

• Sickness absence rates vary substantially across geographical areas in Sweden. There exist striking differences in absence patterns between southern and northern counties as well as between rural and urban areas. Some of the observed differentials have been suggested in the literature to be caused by differences in local norms regarding the legitimacy of living of benefits. The aim of our study is to investigate the effect of geographical and presumed cultural context on sickness absence. The effect is identified and measured by comparing the outcome of sickness related absences for individuals that move across clusters of municipalities to the outcome on individuals that move within clusters. Our results suggests that individuals that move from a cluster of municipality with high (low) rates of sickness absence to clusters with low (high) rates have a larger (smaller) change over time of their sickness related absence compared to individuals that move within the original region.

Ämnesord

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Ekonomi och näringsliv -- Nationalekonomi (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Economics and Business -- Economics (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Sickness absence

social norms

domestic migration

Economics

Nationalekonomi

Publikations- och innehållstyp

vet (ämneskategori)

rap (ämneskategori)