Daniela Andrén

What Contributes to Life Satisfaction in Transitional Romania

This paper analyzes life satisfaction in Romania in 2001, 12 years after the collapse of communism and the beginning of the transition into a market economy. Using a survey of 1770 individuals, we find that our results are very similar to studies in Western Europe and the USA. Life satisfaction increases with housing standard, health status, economic situation, education, trusting other people, and living in the countryside, and decreases with rising unemployment. However, life satisfaction is lower than in Western countries with about 74% of the people in the sample being not at all satisfied or not quite satisfied with their life in general, and the remaining part being quite satisfied or very satisfied. A policy discussion concludes the paper.

Never give up? The persistence of welfare participation in Sweden

Long-term social assistance dependency is a growing concern in Sweden and other European countries. In order for policy makers to design effective welfare reforms it is important to know how strong the state dependence associated with social assistance is in the population and to what extent it varies with different factors, and among different groups. We estimate the effect of the state dependence in social assistance for Sweden during the 1990s, for both Swedish-born and foreign-born. Using a dynamic discrete choice model that controls for unobserved heterogeneity and the initial conditions problem, we found that the effect is three times larger for foreign-born compared to Swedish-born. However, when the effect is distributed over time, it decreases and loses significance after three years for both groups. This suggests that resources should be allocated for programs that connect working-age recipients with the labor market as early as possible.JEL CodesI30, I38, J18

Part-time sick leave as a treatment method for individuals with musculoskeletal disorders

Introduction There is increasing evidence that staying active is an important part of a recovery process for individuals on sick leave due to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). It has been suggested that using part-time sick-leave rather than full-time sick leave will enhance the possibility of full recovery to the workforce, and several countries actively favor this policy. The aim of this paper is to examine if it is beneficial for individuals on sick leave due to MSDs to be on part-time sick leave compared to full-time sick leave. Methods A sample of 1,170 employees from the RFV-LS (register) database of the Social Insurance Agency of Sweden is used. The effect of being on part-time sick leave compared to full-time sick leave is estimated for the probability of returning to work with full recovery of lost work capacity. A two-stage recursive bivariate probit model is used to deal with the endogeneity problem. Results The results indicate that employees assigned to part-time sick leave do recover to full work capacity with a higher probability than those assigned to full-time sick leave. The average treatment effect of part-time sick leave is 25 percentage points. Conclusions Considering that part-time sick leave may also be less expensive than assigning individuals to full-time sick leave, this would imply efficiency improvements from assigning individuals, when possible, to part-time sick leave.

Long-term absenteeism due to sickness in Sweden. How long does it take and what happens after?

In this paper, we analyze exits from long-term sickness spells in Sweden. Using data for more than 2,500 people, the aim is to analyze the transition to different states: return to work, full disability pension, partial disability pension, and other exits from the labor force. Given the complexity of the exit decision, which encompasses both the individual’s choice, the medical evaluation and the decision of the insurance adjudicator, we consider the outcome as being the result of two aspects of the exit process: one that governs the duration of a spell prior to the decision to exit, and another that governs the type of exit. Therefore, the analysis is done in two steps: first, we analyze the duration of the sickness spells, and then we analyze the process that governs the type of exit. The results indicate that both individual characteristics and push factors, such as regional unemployment, are important for both components of the decision process.

ASSESSING THE EMPLOYMENT EFFECTS OF VOCATIONAL TRAINING USING A ONE-FACTOR MODEL

Matching estimators use observed variables to adjust for differences between groups to eliminate sample selection bias. When minimum relevant information is not available, matching estimates are biased. If access to data on usually unobserved factors that determine the selection process is unavailable, other estimators should be used. This study advocates the one-factor control function estimator that allows for unobserved heterogeneity with factor-loading technique. Treatment effects of vocational training in Sweden are estimated with mean and distributional parameters, and then compared with matching estimates. The results indicate that unobservables slightly increase the treatment effect for those treated.

‘Never on a Sunday’: Economic incentives and short-term sick leave in Sweden

Using a longitudinal data for about 1800 persons observed between 1986 and 1991, this study investigates the incentive effects on short-term sickness spells of two important regime changes in the social insurance system in Sweden implemented in 1987 and 1991. The results indicate that the rules influenced peoples decisions about when to report the beginning and ending of sickness spells. The 1991 reform, which reduced the replacement rate, had a stronger effect on reducing the duration of short-term absences than the 1987 reform, which restricted the payment of sickness cash benefit to only scheduled workdays.

Ethnolinguistic background and enrollment in primary education : evidence from Kenya

In Kenya, educational enrollment rates increased significantly for both girls and boys after 2003, when primary education became free of charge. Unfortunately, approximately one million school-aged children are still not enrolled in school. Earlier literature provides empirical evidence that educational opportunities differ among children, due to poverty, gender, rural area of residence and disability. Our paper con-tributes to the literature by providing empirical evidence of the importance of children’s ethnolinguistic background for their probability of being in school. Estimates from a three-level random intercept probit model using data from the Kenya Integrated Household Budget Survey 2005/06 reveal that Somali and Maasai children are least likely to be in school. A separate analysis by child’s gender shows that compared to Kikuyu children both girls and boys from the Somali and Maasai groups, but also Mijikenda and Swahili girls, have a lower probability to be in school. This might be an indication that gender norms are stronger in these groups.

'Half Empty or Half Full?' The Importance of the Definition of Part-Time Sick Leave in Evaluating Its Effects

This paper analyzes the impact of the definition of part-time sick leave (PTSL) when analyzing the effect of PTSL on employees’ probability to fully recover lost work capacity. Using a random sample of 3,607 employees, we estimate an econometric model that aims to answer the hypothetical question of what happens to an employee who has lost his/her work capacity if he/she instead of continuing to be sicklisted full time starts working some hours. The estimated treatment parameters vary across definitions, yet all results show that, regardless of the timing of the intervention, PTSL had a positive effect on the probability of full recovery of lost work capacity one year after the spell started. Moreover, the most attractive definition shows the highest impact: About 48% of those with a reduced degree of sick leave from full time to part time during the spell were recovered about one year after the spell started, and only about 6% of them would have been better off had they remained on full-time.

EXITS FROM LONG-TERM SICKNESS IN SWEDEN

In this paper, we analyze exits from long-term sickness spells in Sweden. Using spell data for more than 2500 people, aged 20-64 years during 1986-1991, and who had at least one sickness spell of at least 60 days during 1986-1989, the aim is to analyze the transition to different states, i.e., return to work, full disability pension, partial disability pension, and other exit from the labor force. Given the complexity of the exit decision, which encompasses both the individual´s choice, the medical evaluation and the decision of the insurance adjudicator, we will consider the outcome as being the result of two aspects of the exit processes: an aspect that governs the duration of a spell prior the decision to exit, and another that governs the type of exit. Therefore, the analysis will be done in two steps: First, we will analyze the duration of the sickness spells, and then we will analyze the process that governs the type of exit. The results indicate that both individual characteristics, and push factors, such as regional unemployment, are important for both components of the decision process.

'In Every Rank, or Great or Small, 'Tis Industry Supports Us All': Romanians and Ethnic Hungarians, and Their Wages, in Transition

Legally binding treaties or memorandums have been used over time to regulate the issue of national borders of many European countries. As a result, relatively large groups of people have become ethnic minorities in other countries. They may conserve their ethnic identities, and therefore their children may accumulate ethnic human capital (e.g., language, culture, and religion) in addition to the general human capital of the country. Therefore, they can get access to an appropriate occupation linked by tradition or other factors to their ethnic group. This paper uses estimates from a selection model with an endogenous switch among three broad types of occupational groups to analyze the composition of the wage gap between Romanians and ethnic Hungarians in Romania before and during the transition from a planned to a market economy. The results suggest that the institutional settings of the controlled economy allowed Romanians to work in occupations that gave them the best returns, while the changes during the transition years allowed ethnic Hungarians to work in occupations that gave them the best returns.