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Unemployment and Mortality: Evidence from the PSID

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  • Timothy Halliday

    (Department of Economics, University of Hawaii at Manoa)

Abstract

We use micro-data to investigate the relationship between unemployment and mortality in the United States using Logistic regression on a sample of over 16,000 individuals. We consider baselines from 1984 to 1993 and investigate mortality up to ten years from the baseline. We show that poor local labor market conditions are associated with higher mortality risk for working-aged men and, specifically, that a one percentage point increase in the unemployment rate increases their probability of dying within one year of baseline by 6%. There is little to no such relationship for people with weaker labor force attachments such as women or the elderly. Our results contribute to a growing body of work that suggests that poor economic conditions pose health risks and illustrate an important contrast with studies based on aggregate data.

Suggested Citation

  • Timothy Halliday, 2014. "Unemployment and Mortality: Evidence from the PSID," Working Papers 201413, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hai:wpaper:201413
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    Cited by:

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    2. Janke, Katharina & Lee, Kevin & Propper, Carol & Shields, Kalvinder & Shields, Michael A., 2020. "Macroeconomic Conditions and Health in Britain: Aggregation, Dynamics and Local Area Heterogeneity," IZA Discussion Papers 13091, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Wang, Huixia & Wang, Chenggang & Halliday, Timothy J., 2018. "Health and health inequality during the great recession: Evidence from the PSID," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 17-30.
    4. Sameem, Sediq & Sylwester, Kevin, 2017. "The business cycle and mortality: Urban versus rural counties," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 175(C), pages 28-35.
    5. Byaro, Mwoya & Mafwolo, Gemma & Ngereza, Caroline, 2023. "Does unemployment in sub-Saharan Africa have asymmetric effects on health? A panel quantile approach," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 28(C).
    6. María Andrée López Gómez & Laura Serra & George L Delclos & Fernando G Benavides, 2017. "Employment history indicators and mortality in a nested case-control study from the Spanish WORKing life social security (WORKss) cohort," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 12(6), pages 1-15, June.
    7. Eryarsoy, Enes & Shahmanzari, Masoud & Tanrisever, Fehmi, 2023. "Models for government intervention during a pandemic," European Journal of Operational Research, Elsevier, vol. 304(1), pages 69-83.
    8. Lucia Bosakova & Katarina Rosicova & Daniela Filakovska Bobakova & Martin Rosic & Dagmar Dzurova & Hynek Pikhart & Michala Lustigova & Paula Santana, 2019. "Mortality in the Visegrad countries from the perspective of socioeconomic inequalities," International Journal of Public Health, Springer;Swiss School of Public Health (SSPH+), vol. 64(3), pages 365-376, April.
    9. María Cervini-Plá & Judit Vall-Castelló, 2021. "Business cycle and mortality in Spain," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 22(8), pages 1289-1299, November.
    10. Giri, Jeeten Krishna & Kumaresan, Talitha, 2021. "The business cycle, health behavior, and chronic disease: A study over Three decades," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    11. Heather Klemick & Dennis Guignet & Linda T. Bui & Ron Shadbegian & Cameron Milani, 2022. "Cardiovascular Mortality and Leaded Aviation Fuel: Evidence from Piston-Engine Air Traffic in North Carolina," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-26, May.
    12. Megan M. Reynolds & Patricia A. Homan, 2023. "Income Support Policy Packages and Birth Outcomes in U.S. States: An Ecological Analysis," Population Research and Policy Review, Springer;Southern Demographic Association (SDA), vol. 42(4), pages 1-24, August.
    13. Kerry L. Papps & Alex Bryson & James Reade, 2023. "Running Up that Hill: Fitness in the Face of Recession," DoQSS Working Papers 23-03, Quantitative Social Science - UCL Social Research Institute, University College London.
    14. Beata Gavurova & Samer Khouri & Viliam Kovac & Michaela Ferkova, 2020. "Exploration of Influence of Socioeconomic Determinants on Mortality in the European Union," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(13), pages 1-21, June.
    15. Schwandt, Hannes & von Wachter, Till, 2020. "Socioeconomic Decline and Death: Midlife Impacts of Graduating in a Recession," CEPR Discussion Papers 14325, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    16. Anthony Orji & Jonathan E. Ogbuabor & Onyinye I. Anthony-Orji & Chinonso Okoro & Blessing U. Aniorji, 2020. "Your job or your health? Analysis of unemployment issues and health outcomes in Nigeria," Romanian Economic Journal, Department of International Business and Economics from the Academy of Economic Studies Bucharest, vol. 23(77), pages 28-49, September.
    17. Clifford Afoakwah & Son Nghiem & Paul Scuffham & Joshua Byrnes, 2021. "Rising unemployment reduces the demand for healthcare services among people with cardiovascular disease: an Australian cohort study," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 22(4), pages 643-658, June.
    18. Huixia Wang & Chenggang Wang & Timothy Halliday, 2016. "Money and Credit: Health and Health Inequality during the Great Recession: Evidence from the PSID," Working Papers 201615, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    19. Timothy J. Halliday, 2017. "Earnings Growth and Movements in Self‐Reported Health," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 63(4), pages 760-776, December.
    20. Hannes Schwandt & Till M. von Wachter, 2020. "Socio-Economic Decline and Death: The Life-Cycle Impacts of Recessions for Labor Market Entrants," NBER Working Papers 26638, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Sediq Sameem & Kevin Sylwester, 2016. "Unemployment and Homicides: Evidence from Individual Level U.S. Data," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 36(3), pages 1295-1305.
    22. Chenggang Wang & Huixia Wang & Timothy J. Halliday, 2017. "Health and Health Inequality during the Great Recession: Evidence from the PSID," Working Papers 201703, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Recessions; Mortality; Health; Aggregation; Unemployment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I0 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics

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