Estimation Methods for Duration Models

This paper is a selected overview of econometric methods for duration models and will appear in the forthcoming book The Economics of Search by the authors. The focus of the paper is on martingale methods for continuous time data and general methods for the analysis of discretetime data including multi-spell models and general life-history models.

An Analysis of Occupational Burn Injuries in Rhode Island: Workers' Compensation Claims 1998-2002

Background - upational burns have been determined to be a serious public health concern. The analysis of workplace risks and risk factors associated with burns are critical to developing effective interventions in the future. Methods - This study examined accepted Rhode Island workers' compensation claims (n = 5,619) from 1998 to 2002 to assess the rates and risks of occupational burns. Employment data from the Department of Labor's Current Population Survey (CPS) was used for the estimation of claim rates and shift analyses. Results - The overall burn rate was estimated to be 24.3 per 10,000 workers. The claim rate for workers under 25 years of age was almost double that for all other age groups. The average per-claim disability duration for claims requiring indemnity was 167.9 days and average annual total cost of claims was $1,010,166. The highest claim rate identified was for workers in food service occupations and an increased risk was found for chemical burns among evening and night shift workers. Conclusions - Increased interventions are needed to reduce occupational burns in work settings. Particular diligence should be should address occupational burn hazards in restaurant establishments, and preventative measures aimed at young employees and late shift workers.

Immigrants and the Receipt of Unemployment Insurance Benefits

Using data from the Current Population Survey's Displaced Workers Supplements, this paper explores whether immigrants are more or less likely to file claims for unemployment insurance (UI) benefits than natives. We find that among those eligible for UI benefits, recent immigrants are less likely to file a UI claim than natives. There is also evidence that the impact of unions on UI take-up is larger for immigrants than natives, especially non-recent immigrants.

Unemployment Insurance, Unemployment Durations and Re-employment Wages

We develop an empirical model to estimate the impact of UI on unemployment duration and reemployment wages. The model estimates the UI receipt, unemployment duration and re-employment wage equations simultaneously and incorporates unobserved heterogeneity variables in each equation and allows them to be correlated. The NLSY79 data is used to estimate the model. Some results are found support of the positive effect of UI on re-employment wages.

An Assessment of the Effects of Increased Regulatory Enforcement on Occupational Hearing Loss Workers' Compensation gon 1984-1998

Hearing loss from occupational exposures has been found to be a common and serious problem affecting workers. This paper examines the effect that increasing legislative enforcement of existing regulations has on improving worker safety.

When to Start a Fight and When to Fight Back: Liability Disputes in the Workers' Compensation System

Despite the adoption of no-fault Workers' Compensation legislation in most states, there is substantial litigation over the issue of employer liability for injury claims. We develop a sequential asymmetric information model of liability disputes and estimate the model using data on injury claims from the state of Minnesota. The key insight of our model is that when workers differ in their costs of pursuing a injury claim, employers have an incentive to deny liability and force those with higher costs to abandon their claim. Likewise, workers who expect a bigger return from pursuing their claim are more likely to fight back when liability is denied. Estimates of the structural model confirm that the decision rules of both parties depend on the expected costs and benefits of continuing the dispute. The model provides a parsimonious but relatively successful explanation for the distribution of liability disputes across different workers and types of injuries.

Do Public Tuition Subsidies Promote College Enrollment?

This paper estimates the effect of tuition rates on college enrollment using data for Texas from the 1990 and 2000 Censuses and the 2004 – 2010 American Community Surveys and geographical data on Community College Taxing Districts. The effect of tuition on enrollment is identified by the facts that tuition rates for those living within a taxing district are lower than those living outside the taxing district and in Texas not all geographic locations are in a taxing district. While the estimated effect of tuition on enrollment depends on the sample used, it is negative and mostly statistically significant in the samples of adults 18 and older and negative and sometimes statistically significant in the samples of traditional age students 18 to 24. The estimated effect of tuition on enrollment, however, is found to vary considerably by poverty level status with an increase in tuition rates having a statistically significant negative effect on college enrollment for those with household incomes that are at least 200% of the poverty level both for traditional aged students 18 to 24 years old and all adults 18 and older.Universidad de Málaga. Campus de Excelencia Internacional Andalucía Tec

Why Is It Good to Stop at a Red Light: The Basis of Authority and Obligation

(Excerpt) Throughout history, some have questioned whether the authority exercised by some over others is consistent with human nature. Is it possible for a law made by one human being to bind the conscience of another, or is such a claim merely tyranny? If such a power to bind to laws made by humans is justified, what is its scope? The answers to these related questions explored in this Article are both descriptive and normative. This Article explains the nature of authority and the extent of the obligation to obey the law as well as explains how the architecture of natural law jurisprudence explains and justifies both the authority and the obligation. To introduce the subject, this Article begins by offering a preliminary definition of authority and obligation. Part I then surveys some of the competing theories of authority and obligation and demonstrates their lack of an ontology and a satisfying justification. Part II presents the classical justification for legal authority and obligation

Why Is It Good to Stop at a Red Light: The Basis of Authority and Obligation

(Excerpt) Throughout history, some have questioned whether the authority exercised by some over others is consistent with human nature. Is it possible for a law made by one human being to bind the conscience of another, or is such a claim merely tyranny? If such a power to bind to laws made by humans is justified, what is its scope? The answers to these related questions explored in this Article are both descriptive and normative. This Article explains the nature of authority and the extent of the obligation to obey the law as well as explains how the architecture of natural law jurisprudence explains and justifies both the authority and the obligation. To introduce the subject, this Article begins by offering a preliminary definition of authority and obligation. Part I then surveys some of the competing theories of authority and obligation and demonstrates their lack of an ontology and a satisfying justification. Part II presents the classical justification for legal authority and obligation

Disabling and Fatal Occupational Claim Rates, Risks, and Costs in the Oregon Construction Industry 1990-1997

Occupational research has demonstrated construction to be among the most dangerous of all occupational industries. This study examines 20,680 accepted workers' compensation claims filed by Oregon construction workers over the period of 1990-1997. Injury rate estimates for occupations were calculated using Oregon employment data from the Current Population Survey. The estimated annual rate of lost-time claims was 3.5 per 100 workers annually (95% CI=2.8-4.2) with insulators having the highest rate and supervisors the lowest. The majority of claims, 3,940, were filed by laborers. Over 52% of all claims were filed by workers under 35 years of age, and over half the claimants had less than 1 year of tenure at the time of injury. There were 52 fatalities reported, representing a rate of 8.5 per 100,000 workers (95% CI = 8.1-8.9), of which 32.7% resulted from falls. The most frequently recorded nature of non-fatal injury was listed as a "sprain," and the most common body part injured was the back. The total costs of all claims was $208,537,120, averaging$10,084 per claim, and the average indemnity time per injury was 57.3 days, with female claimants having longer indemnity periods than males. The highest percentage of claims by weekday occurred on Mondays (21.5%), and subsequent analysis showed the highest odds ratio for time of accident, relative to the first hour on the job, occurred on the third hour of work (OR = 2.456, 95% CI = 2.452-2.460.Construction; Workers' Compensation; Occupational Safety; Fatalities; Injuries; Musculoskeletal Disorders; Surveillance