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Parental Unemployment and Child Health

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  • Eva Mörk
  • Anna Sjögren
  • Helena Svaleryd

Abstract

We analyze to what extent health outcomes of Swedish children are worse among children whose parents become unemployed. To this end we combine Swedish hospitalization data for 1992-2007 for children 3-18 years of age with register data on parental unemployment. We find that children with unemployed parents are 17% more likely to be hospitalized than other children, but that most of the difference is driven by selection. A child fixed-effects approach suggests a small effect of parental unemployment on child health. (JEL-codes: I12, J13)

Suggested Citation

  • Eva Mörk & Anna Sjögren & Helena Svaleryd, 2014. "Parental Unemployment and Child Health," CESifo Economic Studies, CESifo Group, vol. 60(2), pages 366-401.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:cesifo:v:60:y:2014:i:2:p:366-401.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/cesifo/ifu016
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    Cited by:

    1. Nick Drydakis, 2023. "Parental unemployment and adolescents' academic performance," International Journal of Manpower, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 44(7), pages 1362-1381, February.
    2. Mörk, Eva & Sjögren, Anna & Svaleryd, Helena, 2020. "Consequences of parental job loss on the family environment and on human capital formation-Evidence from workplace closures," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 67(C).
    3. Hansen, Kerstin F. & Stutzer, Alois, 2022. "Parental unemployment, social insurance and child well-being across countries," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 600-617.
    4. Marianne Page & Jessamyn Schaller & David Simon, 2019. "The Effects of Aggregate and Gender-Specific Labor Demand Shocks on Child Health," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 54(1), pages 37-78.
    5. Matteo Picchio & Michele Ubaldi, 2024. "Unemployment and health: A meta‐analysis," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 1437-1472, September.
    6. Kong, Nancy & Phipps, Shelley & Watson, Barry, 2021. "Parental economic insecurity and child health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    7. Martínez-Jiménez, Mario, 2023. "Parental nonemployment in childhood and children’s health later in life," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    8. Concepción Moreno-Maldonado & Antonia Jiménez-Iglesias & Francisco Rivera & Carmen Moreno, 2020. "Characterization of Resilient Adolescents in the Context of Parental Unemployment," Child Indicators Research, Springer;The International Society of Child Indicators (ISCI), vol. 13(2), pages 681-702, April.
    9. Mörk, Eva & Sjögren, Anna & Svaleryd, Helena, 2019. "Consequences of parental job loss on the family environment and on human capital formation - Evidence from plant closures," Working Paper Series 2019:7, Uppsala University, Department of Economics.
    10. José Andrade & Joan Gil, 2023. "Maternal Employment and Child Malnutrition in Ecuador," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(13), pages 1-25, June.
    11. Janneke Pieters & Samantha Rawlings, 2020. "Parental unemployment and child health in China," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 18(1), pages 207-237, March.
    12. José Carlos Andrade & Joan Gil, 2022. "Maternal employment and childhood malnutrition in Ecuador," UB School of Economics Working Papers 2022/416, University of Barcelona School of Economics.
    13. Gidehag, Anton, 2019. "Firms’ labor cost savings and recruitment of nonwestern immigrants: The unintended effect of a payroll tax reform," HFI Working Papers 5, Institute of Retail Economics (Handelns Forskningsinstitut).
    14. Sven-Olov Daunfeldt & Anton Gidehag & Niklas Rudholm, 2021. "How Do Firms Respond to Reduced Labor Costs? Evidence from the 2007 Swedish Payroll Tax Reform," Journal of Industry, Competition and Trade, Springer, vol. 21(3), pages 315-338, September.
    15. Stefano Cellini & Livia Menezes & Martin Foureaux Koppensteiner, 2022. "Maternal Displacements during Pregnancy and the Health of Newborns," Discussion Papers 22-02, Department of Economics, University of Birmingham.
    16. Lee, Y-W.;, 2019. "Effects of Parental Job Loss and Insecurity on Children’s Health: Evidence from Korea," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 19/09, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    17. Yong‐Woo Lee, 2022. "How do changes to parental job insecurity affect children's health?," Bulletin of Economic Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 74(1), pages 5-24, January.
    18. Drydakis, Nick, 2022. "Economic recession, parental unemployment and adolescents' health-related quality of life and mental health outcomes in Greece," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1134, Global Labor Organization (GLO).

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth

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