New causal evidence on the effects of activation- and workplace intervention policies for reducing sickness absence

This project contributes to the scientific literature on sickness absence. It has two main topics: 1) Causal effects of dialogue meetings to promote return to work: We investigate the causal effects of dialogue meetings (DMs) for different types of people using a large-scale randomized field experiment together with the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV). We further evaluate different aspects of the DMs and we have different treatment arms so that we can discriminate between different mechanisms and optimize the meetings. We collected data on more than 13.000 individuals and we registered a pre-analysis plan at The American Economic Association's registry for randomized controlled trials. We found no effects of the meetings on the length of sickness absence. 2) Workplace interventions: Many different workplace interventions, in different sectors and countries, have been analyzed in previous literature but there is still no conclusive evidence for any particular intervention. Using unique data from the work-life centers that we obtain from NAV, we analyze the effects of the centers on sickness absence by exploiting the fact that the intensity of work-life center investments differs across counties and only affect companies that are part of the IA-agreement. The data also identifies specific measures of prevention and activation for specific firms so we can investigate the effects of a wide array of specific interventions at the firm level. Master student Anne Killi has, with Simen Markussen (as supervisor), evaluated the effects of the work-life centers using a difference in differences design. Killi finds that sickness absence is reduced and that distance to the centers are negatively correlated with the decline in absence. The support for inclusion and against exclusion seem to affect measures of exclusion and inclusion. The results are published in a Master thesis at the University of Oslo.

Å avdekke effekter av dialogmøter og arbeidslivssenter.

This project will contribute to the scientific literature on sickness absence. It is an extension, as well as a continuation, of ongoing research at the Frisch Centre linking administrative data to other types of data and to field experiments. It has two main topics which are both at the core of the call for proposals: 1) Causal effects of dialogue meetings to promote return to work: Recent research indicates that dialogue meetings (DMs) in Norway seem to have a substantial effect on sickness absence. As this research is based on observational data it is unclear whether the effect is indeed causal. We will investigate the causal effects of DMs for different types of people using a large-scale randomized field experiment together with the Norwegian Labour and Welfare Administration (NAV). We further intend to evaluate different aspects of the DMs and we will have different treatment arms so that we can discriminate between different mechanisms and optimize the meetings. We take recent behavioral insights seriously and try to understand how nudges can be used to maximize the notification effect. Our experiment will entail three different phases and we will learn how to best design the meetings (and notifications), whom to target how, and even how to design the targeting scheme. 2) Workplace interventions: Many different workplace interventions, in different sectors and countries, have been analyzed in previous literature but there is still no conclusive evidence for any particular intervention. Using unique data from the work-life centers that we obtain from NAV, we will analyze the effects of the centers on sickness absence by exploiting the fact that the intensity of work-life center investments differs across counties and only affect companies that are part of the IA-agreement. The data also identifies specific measures of prevention and activation for specific firms so we can investigate the effects of a wide array of specific interventions at the firm level.