Advanced Search
MyIDEAS: Login

Does Public Health Insurance Reduce Labor Market Flexibility or Encourage the Underground Economy? Evidence from Spain and the United States

In: Social Protection versus Economic Flexibility: Is There a Trade-Off?

Contents:

Author Info

  • Sara de la Rica
  • Thomas Lemieux

Abstract

This paper compares the labor market implications of the health insurance system in Spain and in the United States. While most health insurance is privately provided to workers (by employers) in the United States, Spanish workers obtain health insurance coverage from the public social security system. The Spanish system is financed by a payroll (social security) tax shared between employers and employees. There is clear evidence, however, of widespread non-compliance with the social security tax. This paper empirically compares the incidence of health insurance coverage among U.S. workers to the pattern of compliance with the social security tax among Spanish workers. The main finding of this paper is that these two patterns are very similar. They both depend on the same supply and demand factors, which is consistent with basic economic models of private provision of benefits and of tax compliance. However, one important difference between the two systems is that in Spain, unlike the United States, essentially all heads of household work in the covered sector and thus have a full access to public health care for themselves and for their dependents.

(This abstract was borrowed from another version of this item.)

Download Info

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.
File URL: http://www.nber.org/chapters/c11261.pdf
Download Restriction: no

Bibliographic Info

as in new window

This chapter was published in:

  • Rebecca M. Blank, 1994. "Social Protection versus Economic Flexibility: Is There a Trade-Off?," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number blan94-1, July.
    This item is provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Chapters with number 11261.

    Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:11261

    Contact details of provider:
    Postal: National Bureau of Economic Research, 1050 Massachusetts Avenue Cambridge, MA 02138, U.S.A.
    Phone: 617-868-3900
    Email:
    Web page: http://www.nber.org
    More information through EDIRC

    Related research

    Keywords:

    Other versions of this item:

    Find related papers by JEL classification:

    References

    References listed on IDEAS
    Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
    as in new window
    1. Bernard Fortin & Thomas Lemieux & Pierre Frechette, 1990. "An Empirical Model of Labor Supply in the Underground Economy," NBER Working Papers 3392, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Jonathan Gruber & Alan B. Krueger, 1991. "The Incidence of Mandated Employer-Provided Insurance: Lessons from Workers' Compensation Insurance," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 5, pages 111-144 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Diamond, Peter, 1992. "Organizing the Health Insurance Market," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 60(6), pages 1233-54, November.
    4. Patricia M. Danzon, 1990. "Mandated Employment-Based Health Insurance:Incidence and Efficiency Effects," University of Chicago - George G. Stigler Center for Study of Economy and State 60, Chicago - Center for Study of Economy and State.
    5. Summers, Lawrence H, 1989. "Some Simple Economics of Mandated Benefits," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 79(2), pages 177-83, May.
    6. repec:fth:prinin:279 is not listed on IDEAS
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as in new window

    Cited by:
    1. Auerbach, Paula & Genoni, Maria Eugenia & Pagés, Carmen, 2007. "Social Security Coverage and the Labor Market in Developing Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 2979, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    2. David Card & Sara de la Rica, 2005. "The Effect of Firm-Level Contracts on the Structure of Wages: Evidence from Matched Employer-Employee Data," NBER Working Papers 11829, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Mary C. King, 2002. "Strong Families or Patriarchal Economies? Southern European Labor Markets and Welfare in Comparative Perspective," EUI-RSCAS Working Papers 14, European University Institute (EUI), Robert Schuman Centre of Advanced Studies (RSCAS).
    4. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & de la Rica, Sara, 2005. "Immigrants' Responsiveness to Labor Market Conditions and Its Implications on Regional Disparities: Evidence from Spain," IZA Discussion Papers 1557, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA).
    5. Brigitte C. Madrian, 2005. "The U.S. health care system and labor markets," Conference Series ; [Proceedings], Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, issue Jun, pages 137-163.
    6. Amuedo Dorantes, Catalina & De la Rica Goiricelaya, Sara, 2005. "Immigrants Responsiveness to Labor Market Conditions," DFAEII Working Papers 2005-03, University of the Basque Country - Department of Foundations of Economic Analysis II.
    7. Paula Auerbach & María Eugenia Genoni & Carmen Pagés-Serra, 2005. "Cobertura del sistema de seguridad social y el mercado laboral en países en desarrollo," Research Department Publications 4422, Inter-American Development Bank, Research Department.
    8. Alan Krueger, 1994. "Observations on Employment-Based Government Mandates, With Particular Reference to Health Insurance," Working Papers 702, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..

    Lists

    This item is not listed on Wikipedia, on a reading list or among the top items on IDEAS.

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberch:11261

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: ().

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If references are entirely missing, you can add them using this form.

    If the full references list an item that is present in RePEc, but the system did not link to it, you can help with this form.

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.