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The Economics of Occupational Safety and Health

Author

Listed:
  • Ruser, John
  • Butler, Richard

Abstract

Economic incentives play an important role in occupational safety and health, affecting the behavior and decisions of workers, firms and government. This monograph discusses factors that affect workers' decisions about whether to choose risky jobs, how careful to be on the job, and how long to remain off work during recovery from injury. The monograph also examines occupational risk-related costs that influence the following safety decisions of a firm: wage premiums paid to attract workers to risky jobs, premiums for workers' compensation insurance, government fines for safety violations, and injury-related costs such as workplace disruptions and loss of worker specific job skills. This monograph also considers the influence of government, focusing on the enactment and enforcement of safety and health standards and the safety incentives of workers' compensation insurance systems. We find broad consensus in the empirical literature that workers and firms respond to economic incentives in making safety decisions. Economic incentives play an important role in occupational risk prevention. Sometimes these incentives improve safety; but, in other cases they have an adverse effect on safety.

Suggested Citation

  • Ruser, John & Butler, Richard, 2010. "The Economics of Occupational Safety and Health," Foundations and Trends(R) in Microeconomics, now publishers, vol. 5(5), pages 301-354, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:now:fntmic:0700000036
    DOI: 10.1561/0700000036
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. de Groot, Nynke & Koning, Pierre, 2016. "Assessing the effects of disability insurance experience rating. The case of The Netherlands," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 41(C), pages 304-317.
    2. Nynke de Groot & Pierre Koning, 2022. "A burden too big to bear? The effect of experience‐rated disability insurance premiums on firm bankruptcies and employment," Scandinavian Journal of Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 124(1), pages 214-242, January.
    3. Mary F. Evans & Scott M. Gilpatric & Jay P. Shimshack, 2018. "Enforcement Spillovers: Lessons from Strategic Interactions in Regulation and Product Markets," Journal of Law and Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(4), pages 739-769.
    4. Alm, James & Shimshack, Jay, 2014. "Environmental Enforcement and Compliance: Lessons from Pollution, Safety, and Tax Settings," Foundations and Trends(R) in Microeconomics, now publishers, vol. 10(4), pages 209-274, December.
    5. Kerwin Kofi Charles & Matthew S. Johnson & Melvin Stephens & Do Q. Lee, 2022. "Demand Conditions and Worker Safety: Evidence from Price Shocks in Mining," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 40(1), pages 47-94.
    6. Beatty, Timothy & Shimshack, Jay P., 2018. "Monitoring and Enforcement in a Food Safety Context," 2018 Annual Meeting, August 5-7, Washington, D.C. 273913, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    7. Richard V. Burkhauser & Maximilian D. Schmeiser & Robert R. Weathers II, 2012. "The Importance of Anti-Discrimination and Workers' Compensation Laws on the Provision of Workplace Accommodations following the Onset of a Disability," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 65(1), pages 161-180, January.
    8. Lu Jinks & Thomas J. Kniesner & John Leeth & Anthony T. Lo Sasso, 2020. "Opting out of workers’ compensation: Non-subscription in Texas and its effects," Journal of Risk and Uncertainty, Springer, vol. 60(1), pages 53-76, February.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Occupational risk; Workers compensation insurance; Health and safety standards; Labor economics; Public policy; Econometrics;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • J28 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Safety; Job Satisfaction; Related Public Policy
    • C1 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods and Methodology: General
    • J17 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Value of Life; Foregone Income

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