This chapter examines the labor supply effects of social insurance programs. We argue that this topic deserves separate treatment from the rest of the labor supply literature because individuals may be imperfectly informed as to the rules of the programs and because key parameters are likely to...

Workplace injuries and illnesses are an important cause of disability. State workers' compensation programs provide almost $60 billion per year in cash and medical-care benefits for those injuries and illnesses. Social Security Disability Insurance (DI) is the largest disability insurance...

During the days of Covid-19, OSHA has been much in the news as contests surface over the boundaries of what risks of workplace harm are properly regulable by the federal government. Yet the original statute that created OSHA—the Occupational Safety and Health Act of 1970—was not exclusively...

Social networking’s popularity has become a two-edged sword as a tool in the management, investigation, and disposition of workers’ compensation claims. Over the last several years there has been an exponential explosion in the use of this technology on the Internet. The challenge to...

Workplace bullying and harassment on the job can lead to mental injuries including depression, anxiety, and PTSD. One of the few ways workers can recoup medical bills and lost wages for these injuries is through the workers’ compensation system. Our study found that while 44% of claimants...

Market forces, supplemented by government policy, affect how firms and households jointly determine product and workplace safety levels. After developing the economic theory of how labor and product markets pair prices and health risks we then explain the effects of the relevant government...

The Louisiana State workers’ compensation law strives to balance the interests of employers and their employees for the benefit of the larger society. On the one hand, employers must be encouraged to be in business by protecting them from injured employees’ lawsuits that could bankrupt them....