The incidence and duration of work absence spells for a sample of Swedish blue collar workers in 1991 are analyzed using the Kaplan-Meier estimator, discrete time hazard regression as well as stratified Cox regression. The main interest is directed towards the effect of economic incentives. The...

In Hungary, employees could claim sickness insurance benefit within 3 days of job-loss, which would enable them to extend their benefit duration by up to 90 days. The maximum number of days of this 'passive sickness benefit' was halved in 2007. We first investigate whether claiming passive...