Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/21061 
Year of Publication: 
2002
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 627
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
This paper presents a theory and an empirical investigation on cyclical fluctuations in workplace accidents. The theory is based on the idea that reporting an accident dents the reputation of a worker and raises the probability that he is fired. Therefore a country with a high or an increasing unemployment rate has a low (reported) workplace accident rate. The empirical investigation concerns workplace accidents in OECD countries. The analysis confirms that workplace accident rates are inversely related to both the level of unemployment and the change in unemployment. Furthermore, fatal accident rated do not fluctuate over the cycle. We conclude that our empirical analysis is in line with our theory: cyclical fluctuations in workplace accidents have to do with reporting behavior of workers and not with changes in workplace safety.
Subjects: 
workplace accidents
unemployment
JEL: 
J28
I31
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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