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The Spillover Effects of Spousal Chronic Diseases on Married Couples’ Labour Supply: Evidence from China

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  • Zheng Shen

    (School of Economics and Management, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China)

  • Xiaodong Zheng

    (School of Economics, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou 310018, China)

  • Yiwen Tan

    (College of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China)

Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine the spillover effects of chronic diseases experienced by spouses on their wives or husbands’ labour supply. Using data from 2010 and 2012 of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this study employed a difference-in-difference (DD) strategy to investigate the average treatment effect of affected adults on their spouses’ working hours. The results show that, after their spouses were diagnosed with chronic diseases, the average weekly working hours of wives and husbands would be significantly reduced by 3.7–4.2 h and 3.8–4.4 h, respectively. Specially, the average weekly hours of full-time work would be reduced by 2.1–3.3 h for wives and 3.6–3.8 h for husbands. The effect was stronger for those married couples with lower socioeconomic status (SES), such as low-level education, family asset, non-labour income, while the effect was insignificant for high-level SES households. Therefore, as a result of the adverse spillover effects on household labour supply, chronic diseases could cause a greater loss of labour force productivity. Additionally, households in low levels of SES may suffer more losses from reduced labour supply when spousal chronic diseases take place.

Suggested Citation

  • Zheng Shen & Xiaodong Zheng & Yiwen Tan, 2019. "The Spillover Effects of Spousal Chronic Diseases on Married Couples’ Labour Supply: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-18, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:21:p:4214-:d:281869
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    Cited by:

    1. Nicholas A. Jolly & Nikolaos Theodoropoulos, 2023. "Health shocks and spousal labor supply: an international perspective," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(2), pages 973-1004, April.

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