Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/52102 
Year of Publication: 
2011
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 5688
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Workplace accidents are an important economic phenomenon. Yet, the pro-cyclical fluctuations in workplace accidents are not well understood. They could be related to fluctuations in effort and working hours, but workplace accidents may also be affected by reporting behavior. Our paper uses unique data on workplace accidents from an Austrian matched worker-firm dataset to study in detail how economic incentives affect workplace accidents. We find that workers who reported an accident in a particular period of time are more likely to be fired later on. And, we find support for the idea that recessions influence the reporting of moderate workplace accidents: if workers think the probability of dismissals at the firm level is high, they are less likely to report a moderate workplace accident.
Subjects: 
workplace accidents
economic incentives
cyclical fluctuations
JEL: 
I10
J60
J81
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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