Workers' Compensation, Wages, and the Risk of Injury

This paper provides an analysis and summary of the effects of the Workers' Compensation (WC) system on wages and work injury experience. It stresses how lessons learned from other forms of social insurance can be applied to research on WC. I begin with a brief overview of the characteristics of the WC system. Next, some simple labor market models are sketched that provide implications about how the system might affect employee compensation and the frequency and duration of both work injuries and reported WC claims.The bilk of the paper critically analyzes the relevant empirical literature, summarizing what we have learned from it and suggesting future research directions.

A Multiwavelength Study of the Extreme AGN J2310-437

We present new X-ray, radio, and optical data for the unusual galaxy/cluster system J2310-437. Our results confirm the presence of an active nucleus, and suggest an interpretation as an anomalous BL Lac object of bulk relativistic Doppler factor < 2, with an optically deficient radio-to-X-ray spectrum. The radio, optical, and soft X-ray flux densities could lie along a single power-law function, lacking the curvature typical of BL Lac objects. Compared with other known sources that may have comparable multifrequency spectra, J2310-437 is the most extreme. Its low isotropic optical/UV radiation is consistent with the intensity of external photons governing the electron spectral break through Compton cooling; in this source the external photon density would be too low to produce a spectral break below the X-ray.Comment: 19 pages, including 10 figures, using emulateapj.sty and apjfonts.sty. To appear in the Ap

Workers’ Compensation, Wages, and the Risk of Injury

[Excerpt] In many respects the structures of the workers\u27 compensation and unemployment insurance systems are similar. Each is actually a system of individual state systems. Both are financed by a payroll tax that is imperfectly experience rated. Both provide insurance against an adverse consequence (work injury or unemployment) that leads to time away from work; the incidence and duration of these events are at least partially determined by both employer and employee behavior. Both systems provide, at least for temporary events, a structure of benefits that ties compensation to a worker\u27s previous earnings. Because of these similarities, it is not inappropriate for an individual such as myself, who has conducted some research on the unemployment insurance system but none on the workers\u27 compensation system, to provide an analysis and summary of the effects of the latter on work injury experience. Indeed, one contribution of this chapter will be to point out how lessons learned from research on other forms of social insurance can be applied to research on workers\u27 compensation. Nonetheless, there are important differences in, and complexities of, the workers\u27 compensation system that analyses of it must take into account; these are highlighted as well

Claims Reporting and Risk Bearing Moral Hazard in Workers' Compensation : The Canadian Context

This paper explores the Canadian context of workers' compensation (WC) by replicating, with Canadian data, a study carried out by Butler and Worrall (1991). These authors were the first to develop a simple model to separate claims reporting and risk bearing moral hazard in WC. Risk bearing moral hazard reflects the workers' incentive to carry more risk and consequently experience more accidents when benefits rise, while claims reporting moral hazard mirrors workers' incentive to file a claim. The estimation of these two moral hazard effects leads to results quite different with Canadian data than with American data. Ce texte explore les mécanismes canadiens d'indemnisations pour accidents du travail en reproduisant avec des données canadiennes l'étude de Butler et Worrall (1991). Ces auteurs furent les premiers à développer un modèle simple pour distinguer deux types de risque moral liés à l'indemnisation des accidents du travail : Le risque lié au comportement préventif et le risque lié à la déclaration d'accidents. Le premier est associé à la tendance des travailleurs de prendre plus de risque lorsque la générosité des indemnisations augmente, alors que le second est associé à leur propension à faire une réclamation lorsqu'ils ont un accident. L'estimation de ces deux types de risque moral, avec des données canadiennes, donne des résultats trés différents de ceux présentés par Butler et Worrall.Worplace Accidents, Workers'Compensation, Moral Hazard, Accidents du travail, indemnisations, risque moral

Structural realism versus deployment realism: A comparative evaluation

In this paper I challenge and adjudicate between the two positions that have come to prominence in the scientific realism debate: deployment realism and structural realism. I discuss a set of cases from the history of celestial mechanics, including some of the most important successes in the history of science. To the surprise of the deployment realist, these are novel predictive successes toward which theoretical constituents that are now seen to be patently false were genuinely deployed. Exploring the implications for structural realism, I show that the need to accommodate these cases forces our notion of “structure” toward a dramatic depletion of logical content, threatening to render it explanatorily vacuous: the better structuralism fares against these historical examples, in terms of retention, the worse it fares in content and explanatory strength. I conclude by considering recent restrictions that serve to make “structure” more specific. I show however that these refinements will not suffice: the better structuralism fares in specificity and explanatory strength, the worse it fares against history. In light of these case studies, both deployment realism and structural realism are significantly threatened by the very historical challenge they were introduced to answer

X-ray synchrotron emission from the oblique shock in the jet of the powerful radio galaxy 3C 346

We report the first detection, with Chandra, of X-ray emission from the jet of the powerful narrow-line radio galaxy 3C 346. X-rays are detected from the bright radio and optical knot at which the jet apparently bends by about 70 degrees. The Chandra observation also reveals a bright galaxy-scale atmosphere within the previously-known cluster, and provides a good X-ray spectrum for the bright core of 3C 346. The X-ray emission from the knot is synchrotron radiation, as seen in lower-power sources. In common with these sources, there is evidence of morphological differences between the radio/optical and X-ray structures, and the spectrum is inconsistent with a one-component continuous-injection model. We suggest that the X-ray-bright knot is associated with a strong oblique shock in a moderately relativistic, light jet, at about 20 degrees to the line of sight, and that this shock is caused by the jet interacting with the wake in the cluster medium behind 3C 346's companion galaxy. The general jet curvature can result from pressure gradients in the cluster atmosphere.Comment: Accepted for publication in the MNRAS. 9 page

The inner jet of radio galaxy NGC 315 as observed with Chandra and the VLA

We present Chandra X-ray results for the jet, nucleus, and gaseous atmosphere of NGC 315, a nearby radio galaxy whose jet kinematics are known through deep radio mapping. Diffuse X-ray synchrotron emission is detected from the jet out to 30 arcsec from the nucleus, through regions both of fast bulk flow and deceleration. The X-ray to radio flux ratio drops considerably where the flow decelerates, but the X-ray and radio emissions show similar transverse extents throughout, requiring distributed particle acceleration to maintain the supply of X-ray-emitting electrons. A remarkable knotty filament within the jet is seen in both the radio and X-ray, contributing roughly 10 per cent of the diffuse emission along its extent at both wavelengths. No completely satisfactory explanation for the filament is found, though its oscillatory appearance, roughly aligned magnetic field, and requirements for particle acceleration, suggest that it is a magnetic strand within a shear layer between fast inner and slower outer flow.Comment: Accepted for publication in the MNRAS. 13 pages,14 figures (some in colour

Popper's Darwinian analogy

One of the most deeply entrenched ideas in Popper's philosophy is the analogy between the growth of scientific knowledge and the Darwinian mechanism of natural selection. Popper gave his first exposition of these ideas very early on. In a letter to Donald Campbell, 1 Popper says that the idea goes back at least to the early thirties. 2 And he had a fairly detailed account of it in his "What is dialectic?", a talk given in 1937 and published in 1940: 3 If we want to explain why human thought tends to try out every conceivable solution for any problem with which it is faced, then we can appeal to a highly general sort of regularity. The method by which a solution is approached is .

Organizational cultures: Obstacles to women in the UK construction industry

The global economic downturn coupled with recent changes in UK law have led to a sizable reduction in public sector funding. As a result, both public and private sector organizations are under greater pressure to provide evidence of their activities in promoting equality and diversity in their use of public sector funds. This requirement poses a particular challenge for the UK construction industry, which remains largely White male dominated. Empirical data gathered from a series of semistructured questionnaires and focus groups that have received managerial and soft skills training are analyzed and discussed in this article in an effort to establish the organizational cultural obstacles that women face in working in the UK construction industry. The findings outline that White male-dominated organizational cultures, inflexible work practices, and a lack of supportive networks serve as obstacles to women in the UK construction industry. This study concludes with recommendations for the expansion of training opportunities for women to encourage workforce diversity within the UK construction industry