Institutional-historical analysis of early development of sickness insurance in the Czech lands at the turn of the 19th to the 20th century

This text aims to identify the main features of development of sickness insurance in the Czech lands. In the second half of the 19th century new mutual benefit societies started to emerge -- similarly like in Great Britain and the United States, and in the same time in 1888 the compulsory workers sick insurance was introduced. In the first part, this work offers analytical framework for analysis of this development, especially the approach of the public choice school, the concept of cognitive hazard and of social capital. In second part, the author gives historical overview of the era, brief overview of the development of so-called Friendly societies in Great Britain and the United States and an analysis of compulsory workers sick insurance and voluntary societies in Bohemia. The analysis shows the role of interest groups (workers movement, employers, physicians etc.) that shaped the compulsory insurance in similar way as captured in the Anglo-Saxon experience. The push-through of the compulsory insurance strengthens their positions. The application of social capital and cognitive hazard concept reveals that the compulsory insurance could bring unintended cost in the long run by lowering a voluntary cooperation.