Essays on health shocks and social insurance

This thesis consists of four self-contained essays in empirical economics. The first paper in this thesis, Essay 1, addresses the relationship between health and socioeconomic status. The purpose of the paper is to investigate whether the, so called, socioeconomic gradient in health arises from socioeconomic hetero-geneity in the impact of health shocks on labor market outcomes. The second and third paper relates, in different ways, to the organization of the public sickness and disability insurance system. Essay 2 analyzes a reform of the compulsory Swedish sickness insurance. Specifically, I analyze the indirect impact of replacement rates on medium- and long-term sickness absence. Essay 3 examines the effect of poor quality medical certificate on sickness absence durations. Finally, the Essay 4 investigates how socioeconomic status is associated with road accidents. This study also calculates the societal costs of road accidents in terms of lost production.