8 Workers' compensation.(The Law and Economics of Public Health)

Foundations and Trends in Microeconomics, November, 2007 by Chepke, Lindsey M.; Sloan, Frank A.

8.1 Rationale

Accidents and illnesses associated with work are common, and were especially common when attention was initially drawn to this issue in the 19th century (see, e.g., Witt, 2001). However, to the extent that workers are paid a compensating wage differential that offsets the disutility of any job-related risk to health and longevity above some very minimal probability, and that wage differential suffices to make the employee as well off as when working at a very low risk job without the wage differential, there is no reason, at least on grounds of efficiency, for ...