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The Effects of Worker Heterogeneity on Duration Dependence: Low-Back Claims in Workers Compensation

Richard Butler1; Marjorie L. Baldwin2; William G. Johnson3

1 Brigham Young University · 2 East Carolina University · 3 Arizona State University

The Review of Economics and Statistics 2001

We estimate models of workers compensation claim duration for a sample of Canadian workers with serious low-back injuries. The models extend recent duration research by allowing worker characteristics to affect duration dependence through the nonlocation parameters of the duration distribution. We compare results for modified Weibull models and piecewise-constant hazard rate models of duration dependence. The results show that workers' responses to elapsed claim duration vary significantly with their characteristics and with economic incentives to return to work. Further, allowing for heterogeneity in duration dependence effects can dramatically change the coefficient estimates of the variables that determine the location parameter of the duration distribution.

DOI
10.1162/003465301753237786
Volume
83 (4)
Pages
708-716
Language
en
Export
BibTeX
Sources
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