Excess use of Temporary Parental Benefit

In this report we examine the excess use of Temporary Parental Benefit for parents who need to stay home from work when their children are sick. This study is based on a randomized experiment that took place during the spring 2006. The method used is rather new and more ambitious than those used in similar studies in the past. One advantage with this more elaborate technique is that a larger part of the veiled excessive use can be discovered. The result points to that as much as 22.5 percent of the costs for this social insurance are due to excess use. There are significant gender differences; women’s excess use amounts to 19 percent of their total use while the corresponding figure for men is 28 percent.