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Not coming in today - Firm productivity differentials and the epidemiology of the flu

Author

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  • Dorner, Matthias

    (IAB)

  • Haller, Peter

    (IAB)

Abstract

"With more than four million cases in Germany every year, influenza and acute upper respiratory tract infectious diseases (henceforth URTI) exhibit the highest number of reported doctor consultations. Although the direct treatment costs for URTI are comparably low, the indirect economic costs, due to work absences and productivity impairments of sick workers who remain at work (presentism), are far more compelling. In this paper, we estimate the effect of local URTI incidences as an exogenous shock to the production factor labor and thus on firm productivity. To quantify the URTI related shock on the production factor labor, we scrape a large number of weekly maps depicting the (local) URTI index across Germany, which are provided in the official influenza surveillance system. Measured by the length of the influenza season in German municipalities from 2003 to 2009, these data exhibit substantial seasonal as well as regional variation. In our main analysis, we estimate firm level production functions using data from the IAB Establishment Panel, a comprehensive German firm survey. In our main regression, we analyze total factor productivity differentials and their relationship with the local influenza intensity. We find sizeable negative effects of the URTI diseases on firm productivity. We attribute this effect to a combination of direct productivity losses caused by absences of sickworkers as well as indirect productivity impairments due to presenteeism." (Author's abstract, IAB-Doku) ((en))

Suggested Citation

  • Dorner, Matthias & Haller, Peter, 2020. "Not coming in today - Firm productivity differentials and the epidemiology of the flu," IAB-Discussion Paper 202006, Institut für Arbeitsmarkt- und Berufsforschung (IAB), Nürnberg [Institute for Employment Research, Nuremberg, Germany].
    • Handle: RePEc:iab:iabdpa:202006
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    File URL: https://doku.iab.de/discussionpapers/2020/dp0620.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Chad Syverson, 2011. "What Determines Productivity?," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 49(2), pages 326-365, June.
    2. Marco Percoco, 2016. "Health Shocks and Human Capital Accumulation: The Case of Spanish Flu in Italian Regions," Regional Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(9), pages 1496-1508, September.
    3. Pichler, Stefan & Ziebarth, Nicolas R., 2017. "The pros and cons of sick pay schemes: Testing for contagious presenteeism and noncontagious absenteeism behavior," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 14-33.
    4. Maurer, Jürgen, 2009. "Who has a clue to preventing the flu? Unravelling supply and demand effects on the take-up of influenza vaccinations," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 704-717, May.
    5. Ilke Van Beveren, 2012. "Total Factor Productivity Estimation: A Practical Review," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(1), pages 98-128, February.
    6. Gary S. Becker, 1962. "Investment in Human Capital: A Theoretical Analysis," NBER Chapters, in: Investment in Human Beings, pages 9-49, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Brouwer, W. B. F. & van Exel, N. J. A. & Koopmanschap, M. A. & Rutten, F. F. H., 2002. "Productivity costs before and after absence from work: as important as common?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 61(2), pages 173-187, August.
    8. Declan Butler, 2013. "When Google got flu wrong," Nature, Nature, vol. 494(7436), pages 155-156, February.
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    Cited by:

    1. Rettl, Daniel A. & Schandlbauer, Alexander & Trandafir, Mircea, 2022. "Employee Health and Firm Performance," IZA Discussion Papers 15147, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Bundesrepublik Deutschland ; Auswirkungen ; Epidemiologie ; Fehlzeiten ; IAB-Betriebspanel ; Krankheit ; Produktionsfunktion ; Produktivitätseffekte ; Produktivitätsunterschied ; regionaler Vergleich ; Unternehmen ; volkswirtschaftliche Kosten ; Arbeitsverhalten ; 2003-2009;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity
    • L25 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior - - - Firm Performance
    • R10 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General Regional Economics - - - General

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