This file is part of IDEAS, which uses RePEc data


[ Papers | Articles | Software | Books | Chapters | Authors | Institutions | JEL Classification | NEP reports | Search | New papers by email | Author registration | Rankings | Volunteers | FAQ | Blog | Help! ]

Reservation Wages, Labour Market Participation And Health

Author info | Abstract | Publisher info | Download info | Related research | Statistics
Author Info
Sarah Brown ()
Jenny Roberts ()
Karl Taylor () (Department of Economics, The University of Sheffield)

Additional information is available for the following registered author(s):

Abstract

The concept of the reservation wage has played an important role in labour market theory; particularly in models of job search, labour supply and labour market participation. Despite this core theoretical role, there is a scarcity of empirical research which explores the setting of reservation wages at the individual level. In this paper, we focus on the determinants of reservation wages, with a particular focus on health, which has attracted very little attention despite its importance from a policy perspective. We use data for males from 14 waves of the British Household Panel Survey and estimate an endogenous switching model which predicts reservation wages for the unemployed and market wages for the employed. We employ methods to deal with the endogeneity of health, measurement errors in our self reported health variable and selection into economic activity. Our results suggest that health is an important determinant of selection, both into economic activity and into employment (versus unemployment) but that, once these participation effects are accounted for, health is not a significant determinant of either the reservation wage or the market wage. This casts doubt on the results of a number of previous studies that have failed to appropriately account for selection in models of male wages. Our results have important policy implications since they suggest that poor health is a major cause of economic inactivity.

Download Info
To download:

If you experience problems downloading a file, check if you have the proper application to view it first. Information about this may be contained in the File-Format links below. In case of further problems read the IDEAS help page. Note that these files are not on the IDEAS site. Please be patient as the files may be large.

File URL: http://www.shef.ac.uk/content/1/c6/08/11/38/SERP2008002.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function: First version, 2008
Download Restriction: no
File URL: http://www.shef.ac.uk/content/1/c6/08/11/38/SERP2008002.pdf
File Format: application/pdf
File Function: Revised version, 2008
Download Restriction: no

Publisher Info
Paper provided by The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics in its series Working Papers with number 2008002.

Download reference. The following formats are available: HTML (with abstract), plain text (with abstract), BibTeX, RIS (EndNote, RefMan, ProCite), ReDIF
Length: 31 pages
Date of creation: Feb 2008
Date of revision: Feb 2008
Handle: RePEc:shf:wpaper:2008002

Contact details of provider:
Postal: 9 Mappin Street, SHEFFIELD, S1 4DT
Phone: +44 114 222 3399
Fax: + 44 (0)114 222 3458
Email:
Web page: http://www.shef.ac.uk/economics
More information through EDIRC

For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its listing, contact: (Joanne Lindley).

Related research
Keywords: Endogenous switching models; Health status; Labour market participation; Reservation wages;

Other versions of this item:

Find related papers by JEL classification:
J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

References listed on IDEAS
Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Luft, Harold S, 1975. "The Impact of Poor Health on Earnings," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 57(1), pages 43-57, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Bartel, Ann & Taubman, Paul, 1979. "Health and Labor Market Success: The Role of Various Diseases," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 61(1), pages 1-8, February. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  3. Addison, John T. & Centeno, Mário & Portugal, Pedro, 2004. "Reservation Wages, Search Duration, and Accepted Wages in Europe," IZA Discussion Papers 1252, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  4. Nigel Rice & Jennifer Roberts & Andrew M. Jones, 2007. "Sick of work or too sick to work? Evidence on health shocks and early retirement from the BHPS," Working Papers 2007002, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics, revised Jan 2007. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  5. Jacob Mincer, 1958. "Investment in Human Capital and Personal Income Distribution," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 66, pages 281. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Grossman, Michael, 1972. "On the Concept of Health Capital and the Demand for Health," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(2), pages 223-55, March-Apr. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  7. Lixin Cai & Guyonne Kalb, 2006. "Health status and labour force participation: evidence from Australia," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(3), pages 241-261. [Downloadable!]
  8. Lindeboom, Maarten & van Doorslaer, Eddy, 2004. "Cut-point shift and index shift in self-reported health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 23(6), pages 1083-1099, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  9. Ransom, Michael R, 1987. "The Labor Supply of Married Men: A Switching Regressions Model," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 5(1), pages 63-75, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  10. Gary S. Becker, 1962. "Investment in Human Capital: A Theoretical Analysis," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70, pages 9. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  11. (*), Nigel Rice & Paul Contoyannis, 2001. "The impact of health on wages: Evidence from the British Household Panel Survey," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 26(4), pages 599-622. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  12. Jones, Melanie K., 2006. "Is there employment discrimination against the disabled?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 92(1), pages 32-37, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  13. Gordon, Roger H. & Blinder, Alan S., 1980. "Market wages, reservation wages, and retirement decisions," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 277-308, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  14. José Ignacio García Pérez & Yolanda Rebollo Sanz, 2004. "Wage changes through job mobility in Europe: A multinomial endogenous switching approach," Economic Working Papers at Centro de Estudios Andaluces E2004/70, Centro de Estudios Andaluces. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  15. Blackaby, D.H. & Latreille, P.L. & Murphy, P.D. & O'Leary, N.C. & Sloane, P.J., 2007. "An analysis of reservation wages for the economically inactive," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 97(1), pages 1-5, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  16. Michael P. Kidd & Peter J. Sloane & Ivan Ferko, 1998. "Disability and the Labour Market: an analysis of British males," Working Papers 98-10, Department of Economics, University of Aberdeen. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  17. Berkowitz, Monroe & Fenn, Paul & Lambrinos, James, 1983. "The optimal stock of health with endogenous wages : Application to partial disability compensation," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 139-147, August. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  18. Disney, Richard & Emmerson, Carl & Wakefield, Matthew, 2006. "Ill health and retirement in Britain: A panel data-based analysis," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(4), pages 621-649, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  19. Eswar Prasad, 2003. "What Determines the Reservation Wages of Unemployed Workers? New Evidence from German Micro Data," IMF Working Papers 03/4, International Monetary Fund. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  20. Kreider, Brent, 2002. "Latent Work Disability and Reporting Bias," Staff General Research Papers 5185, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
  21. Vincent Hogan, 1999. "The Determinants of the Reservation Wage," Working Papers 199916, School Of Economics, University College Dublin. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  22. Campolieti, Michele, 2002. "Disability and the labor force participation of older men in Canada," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 405-432, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  23. Adams, Peter & Hurd, Michael D. & McFadden, Daniel & Merrill, Angela & Ribeiro, Tiago, 2003. "Healthy, wealthy, and wise? Tests for direct causal paths between health and socioeconomic status," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 3-56, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  24. Lancaster, Tony & Chesher, Andrew, 1983. "An Econometric Analysis of Reservation Wages," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 51(6), pages 1661-76, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  25. Hogan, Vincent, 2004. "Wage aspirations and unemployment persistence," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 51(8), pages 1623-1643, November. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  26. Haveman, Robert & Wolfe, Barbara & Kreider, Brent & Stone, Mark, 1994. "Market work, wages, and men's health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 163-182, July. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
    Other versions:
  27. Heitmueller, Axel, 2004. "Public-Private Sector Wage Differentials in Scotland: An Endogenous Switching Model," IZA Discussion Papers 992, Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA). [Downloadable!]
  28. Michael Lokshin & Zurab Sajaia, 2004. "Maximum likelihood estimation of endogenous switching regression models," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 4(3), pages 282-289, September. [Downloadable!]
  29. Selma J. Mushkin, 1962. "Health as an Investment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 70, pages 129. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  30. John Bound & Michael Schoenbaum & Timothy Waidmann, 1995. "Race and Education Differences in Disability Status and Labor Force Attachment," NBER Working Papers 5159, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
Full references

Statistics
Access and download statistics

Did you know? IDEAS is not the only service displaying RePEc data. Choose on RePEc which service fits your needs best.

This page was last updated on 2009-11-1.

This information is provided to you by IDEAS at the Department of Economics, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, University of Connecticut using RePEc data on a server sponsored by the Society for Economic Dynamics.