Scandinavian Working Papers in Economics
Working Papers,
Örebro University, School of Business
No 2010:11: Sickness Absence and Local Cultures
Kristin Ekblad () and Mattias Bokenblom ()
Additional contact information
Kristin Ekblad: Department of Business, Economics, Statistics and Informatics, Postal: Örebro University, Swedish Business School, SE - 701 82 ÖREBRO, Sweden
Mattias Bokenblom: Department of Business, Economics, Statistics and Informatics, Postal: Örebro University, Swedish Business School, SE - 701 82 ÖREBRO, Sweden
Abstract: Sickness absence has been found to vary substantially across geographical areas. There are large differences between different countries but also between different regions within a particular country. In the literature some of these observed differentials have been suggested to stem from differences in local norms with regard to the legitimacy of living off benefits. The aim of our study is to investigate the effect of geographical and presumed cultural context on sickness absence. In order to identify this effect we compare changes in sickness related absence for individuals who move from one Swedish region to another with those occurring when individuals move within Swedish regions. Our results indicate that the region of residence is important to the individual sickness related absence. Moreover, we cannot rule out the possibility that the observed patterns are caused by local cultures regarding sickness absence and the existence of a so called “cultural illness”.
Keywords: Sickness absence; social norms; domestic migration
29 pages, September 14, 2010
Full text files
wp-11-2010.pdf
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