In this paper, we analyse the employers' decision to opt out of the public disability insurance (DI) system. For the empirical analysis we use an extensive panel of Dutch employers for the period 2000-2002. We find that cross-subsidies employers pay or receive under the current public insurance system of experience rating contribute to the opting out decision. Since cross-subsidies are risk related, this is an indication for the presence of adverse selection: high risk (cross-subsidised) firms tend to remain publicly insured, while low risk (cross subsidising) firms tend to opt out. This finding is supported by the fact that risk related characteristics such as the sector of industry and the composition of the work force by age and gender contribute to the explanation of the opting-out decision. Adverse selection could be diminished by setting public premiums in such a way that they are more actuarial fair in the long run. As a result, the risk profile of firms opting out will become more similar to that of firms not opting out.
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Paper provided by CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis in its series CPB Discussion Papers with number
46.
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.:
G. Dionne & N. Doherty & N. Fombaron, 2000.
"Adverse Selection in Insurance Markets,"
THEMA Working Papers
2000-21, THEMA (THéorie Economique, Modélisation et Applications), Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
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