Join the Union and be Safe : The Effects of Unionisation on Occupational Safety and Health in the European Union

Preprin

The Effect of Macroeconomic Conditions on Occupational Health and Safety : the European Experience

Preprin

Poor and Sick : Estimating the relationship between Household Income and Health

This study evaluates the effect of the individual‘s household income on their health at the later stages of working life. A structural equation model is utilised in order to derive a composite and continuous index of the latent health status from qualitative health status indicators. The endogenous relationship between health status and household income status is taken into account by using IV estimators. The findings reveal a significant effect of individual household income on health before and after endogeneity is taken into account and after a host of other factors which is known to influence health, including hereditary factors and the individual‘s locus of control. Importantly, it is also shown that the childhood socioeconomic position of the individual has long lasting effects on health as it appears to play a significant role in determining health during the later stages of working life.European Commission under the Fifth Framework Programme “Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources” (contract number: QLRT-2001-02292

Are Recessions Harmful to Health After All? Evidence from the European Union

This paper investigates the effects of national unemployment rates on overall age and cause-specific mortality rates in a panel sample of 13 European Union countries. A fixed-effects model is used to control for unobserved time-invariant characteristics within countries. In addition, controls such as lifestyle risk factors, urbanisation and medical intervention indicators, for potential confounders are used. Contrary to some recent evidence this study shows that there is a strong, positive relationship between adverse economic conditions and the mortality

Past Unemployment Experience and Health Status

This paper explores the relationship between individual past unemployment experience and alternative measures of individual health state after controlling for a number of current characteristics and current socio-economic status. Three alternative indicators of past unemployment status are used namely; the number and the duration of past unemployment spells. The study finds a cumulative effect of prolonged past unemployment experience on current individual health status. It also finds that those who are wealthier are also healthier. Finally the different institutional and cultural frameworks prevailing across different E.U countries appear to affect the health - past unemployment experience relationship.European Commission, Fifth Framework Programme “Quality of Life and Management of Living Resources” (contract number: QLRT-2001-02292)

Socioeconomic Status and Health Care Utilization: A Study of the Effects of Low Income, Unemployment and Hours of Work on the Demand for Health Care in the E.U.

The purpose of this study is to shed light on the individual socio-economic status (SES) and demographic determinants of the demand for health care in a cross-comparison study of nine E.U. countries. It focuses on the effects of the individual employment status on alternative indicators of demand for health care that constitutes a largely unexplored area. The evidence supports the existence of an employment status- demand for health care relationship although it varies with respect to the type of health care examined and the institutional and environmental settings of the countries utilised in the study

A Survey of Safety and Health at Work in Greece

The subject of Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) is increasingly gaining the interest of policy makers and researchers in European countries given that the economic and social losses from work-related injuries and diseases are quite substantial. Under this light, this paper will present an overview of the Greek legislation framework regarding OSH issues, and the current status of empirical research on the subject in Greece. In addition, the paper identifies the knowledge gaps and methodological shortcomings of the existing literature in order to contribute towards future research in the OSH field in Greece.Accidents at work; Occupational diseases; Safety

Terrorism and Political Self-Placement in European Union Countries

Terrorism is widely regarded as a public bad vis-\ue0-vis security - a public good - affecting the subjective well-being of citizens. As studies have shown, citizens' risk-perceptions and risk-assessment are affected by large scale terrorist acts. Reported evidence shows that individuals are often willing to trade-off civil liberties for enhanced security particularly as a post-terrorist attack reaction as well as adopting more conservative views. Within this strand of the literature, this paper examines whether terrorism and in particular mass-casualty terrorist attacks affect citizens' political selfplacement on the left-right scale of the political spectrum. To this effect the Eurobarometer Surveys for twelve European Union countries are utilised and Ordered Probit models are employed for the period 1985-2010 with over 230 thousand observations used in the estimations. On balance, the findings reported herein seem to be pointing to a shift in respondents' self-positioning towards the right of the political spectrum

Join the Union and Be Safe : The Effects of Unionization on Occupational Safety and Health in the European Union

Acknowledgements: Thanks go to the participants of the ‘Health and Work’ Organised Session (2011) of the Scottish Economic Society 2011 Annual Conference, Perth, Scotland, for helpful comments. The authors are also grateful to the editor Franco Peracchi and the referees of this journal for helpful comments and suggestions. The financial support of the European Commission is gratefully acknowledged (HEALTHatWORK Project) — 7th Framework Programme THEME [HEALTH-2007-4.2-3] Grant Agreement No: 200716.Peer reviewedPostprin

Assessing the determinants of Firms’ Competitiveness in Greece: A Structural Equation Modeling Analysis

The paper investigates the importance of territorial characteristics/assets (i.e. agglomeration economies, urban infrastructure, factors of labor and cost, development policies, qualitative factors, inter alia) on small- and medium-sized firms’ competitiveness. The analysis uses primary data from 204 small- and medium-sized firms located in Thessaloniki (Greece). These firms operate in the sectors of industry, commerce and services. Through the use of Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analysis, the importance of particular factors for the competitiveness of firms has been analyzed, coming out in valuable conclusions not only for the firms and the city of Thessaloniki considered but also for firms and areas with similar characteristics in Greece and the wider area of Balkans