IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iae/iaewps/wp2007n02.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Effects of Health on Wages of Australian Men

Author

Listed:
  • Lixin Cai

    (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne)

Abstract

As a form of human capital health like education determines individuals’ productivity and thus wage rates. While there are numerous overseas studies that examine the effect of health on wages, research on this issue using Australian data is scarce. This paper uses the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey to investigate the effect of health on the wages of working-age Australian men. A simultaneous equation model of health and wages is estimated to account for endogeneity of health. The results confirm the finding in the literature that health has a significant and positive effect on wages, but the significant effect is found only when measurement error and endogeneity of health are accounted for. The reverse effect of wages on health is found insignificant, but there is evidence on the endogeneity of health arising from unobserved factors.

Suggested Citation

  • Lixin Cai, 2007. "Effects of Health on Wages of Australian Men," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2007n02, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    • Handle: RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2007n02
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://melbourneinstitute.unimelb.edu.au/downloads/working_paper_series/wp2007n02.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alok Bhargava & Dean T. Jamison & Lawrence J. Lau & Christopher J. L. Murray, 2006. "Modeling the effects of health on economic growth," World Scientific Book Chapters, in: Econometrics, Statistics And Computational Approaches In Food And Health Sciences, chapter 20, pages 269-286, World Scientific Publishing Co. Pte. Ltd..
    2. (*), 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.
    3. Roger Wilkins, 2003. "Labour Market Outcomes and Welfare Dependence of Persons with Disabilities in Australia," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2003n02, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    4. David E. Bloom & Jeffrey D. Sachs, 1998. "Geography, Demography, and Economic Growth in Africa," Brookings Papers on Economic Activity, Economic Studies Program, The Brookings Institution, vol. 29(2), pages 207-296.
    5. Paul Taubman & Sherwin Rosen, 1982. "Healthiness, Education, and Marital Status," NBER Chapters, in: Economic Aspects of Health, pages 121-140, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Alison Booth & Margi Wood, 2004. "Back-to-front Down-under? Part-time/Full-time Wage Differentials in Australia," CEPR Discussion Papers 482, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    7. David E. Bloom & David Canning & Jaypee Sevilla, 2001. "The Effect of Health on Economic Growth: Theory and Evidence," NBER Working Papers 8587, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling, Experience, and Earnings," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number minc74-1.
    9. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pc:p:3309-3416 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Brown, Charles & Medoff, James, 1989. "The Employer Size-Wage Effect," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 97(5), pages 1027-1059, October.
    11. Brent Kreider, 1999. "Latent Work Disability and Reporting Bias," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 34(4), pages 734-769.
    12. Adam Wagstaff & Eddy Van Doorslaer, 1994. "Measuring inequalities in health in the presence of multiple‐category morbidity indicators," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 3(4), pages 281-291, July.
    13. 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.
    14. Bound, John & Schoenbaum, Michael & Stinebrickner, Todd R. & Waidmann, Timothy, 1999. "The dynamic effects of health on the labor force transitions of older workers," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 6(2), pages 179-202, June.
    15. John Mullahy & Jody L. Sindelar, 1995. "Health, Income, and Risk Aversion: Assessing Some Welfare Costs of Alcoholism and Poor Health," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 30(3), pages 439-459.
    16. Eng Seng Loh, 1996. "Productivity Differences and the Marriage Wage Premium for White Males," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 31(3), pages 566-589.
    17. Davidson, Russell & MacKinnon, James G., 1993. "Estimation and Inference in Econometrics," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195060119.
    18. Bloom, David E. & Mahal, Ajay S., 1997. "Does the AIDS epidemic threaten economic growth?," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 77(1), pages 105-124, March.
    19. 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.
    20. Lee, Lung-Fei, 1982. "Health and Wage: A Simultaneous Equation Model with Multiple Discrete Indicators," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 23(1), pages 199-221, February.
    21. Jacob A. Mincer, 1974. "Schooling and Earnings," NBER Chapters, in: Schooling, Experience, and Earnings, pages 41-63, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    22. Mossey, J.M. & Shapiro, E., 1982. "Self-rated health: a predictor of mortality among the elderly," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 72(8), pages 800-808.
    23. Garry F. Barrett, 2002. "The Effect of Alcohol Consumption on Earnings," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 78(240), pages 79-96, March.
    24. repec:bla:econom:v:60:y:1993:i:238:p:125-42 is not listed on IDEAS
    25. Jenny Lye & Joe Hirschberg, 2004. "Alcohol consumption, smoking and wages," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 36(16), pages 1807-1817.
    26. Currie, Janet & Madrian, Brigitte C., 1999. "Health, health insurance and the labor market," Handbook of Labor Economics, in: O. Ashenfelter & D. Card (ed.), Handbook of Labor Economics, edition 1, volume 3, chapter 50, pages 3309-3416, Elsevier.
    27. William G. Johnson & James Lambrinos, 1985. "Wage Discrimination against Handicapped Men and Women," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 20(2), pages 264-277.
    28. Mark Wooden & Simon Freidin & Nicole Watson, 2002. "The Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA)Survey: Wave 1," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 35(3), pages 339-348, September.
    29. Richard Brazenor, 2002. "Disabilities and labour Market earnings in Australia," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 5(3), pages 319-334, September.
    30. 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 223-255, March-Apr.
    31. 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, March.
    32. Barry T. Hirsch, 2005. "Why Do Part-Time Workers Earn Less? The Role of Worker and Job Skills," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 58(4), pages 525-551, July.
    33. Gerdtham, U. -G. & Johannesson, M. & Lundberg, L. & Isacson, D., 1999. "A note on validating Wagstaff and van Doorslaer's health measure in the analysis of inequalities in health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(1), pages 117-124, January.
    34. David E. Bloom & David Canning, 2004. "The Health and Wealth of Africa," World Economics, World Economics, 1 Ivory Square, Plantation Wharf, London, United Kingdom, SW11 3UE, vol. 5(2), pages 57-81, April.
    35. Berta Rivera & Luis Currais, 1999. "Economic growth and health: direct impact or reverse causation?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 6(11), pages 761-764.
    36. John Bound, 1991. "Self-Reported Versus Objective Measures of Health in Retirement Models," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 26(1), pages 106-138.
    37. Fuchs, Victor R. (ed.), 1982. "Economic Aspects of Health," National Bureau of Economic Research Books, University of Chicago Press, number 9780226267852.
    38. Steven Stern, 1989. "Measuring the Effect of Disability on Labor Force Participation," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 24(3), pages 361-395.
    39. Campolieti, Michele, 2002. "Disability and the labor force participation of older men in Canada," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 9(3), pages 405-432, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Lixin Cai, 2008. "Be Wealthy to Stay Healthy: An Analysis of Older Australians Using the HILDA Survey," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2008n08, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    2. Yolanda Pena-Boquete & Manuel Flores, 2013. "Earnings returns to education, experience and health: Evidence from EU-SILC," ERSA conference papers ersa13p1169, European Regional Science Association.
    3. Sung-Joo Yoon, 2019. "What Can We Obtain from Mental Health Care? The Dynamics of Physical and Mental Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(17), pages 1-18, August.
    4. Robert Jäckle & Oliver Himmler, 2010. "Health and Wages: Panel Data Estimates Considering Selection and Endogeneity," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 45(2).
    5. Merna Mohamed Esmat Hefnawi & Hebatallah Ghoneim, 2020. "Human Capital and Economic Growth in Egypt," Proceedings of Business and Management Conferences 10112451, International Institute of Social and Economic Sciences.
    6. Fernández-Val, Iván & Savchenko, Yevgeniya & Vella, Francis, 2017. "Evaluating the role of income, state dependence and individual specific heterogeneity in the determination of subjective health assessments," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 25(C), pages 85-98.
    7. Jenny Lye & Joe Hirschberg, 2010. "Alcohol Consumption And Human Capital: A Retrospective Study Of The Literature," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(2), pages 309-338, April.
    8. Manuel Flores & Adriaan Kalwij, 2019. "What Do Wages Add to the Health‐Employment Nexus? Evidence from Older European Workers," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 81(1), pages 123-145, February.
    9. Nerina Vecchio & Paul Scuffham, 2009. "Mental Health and Hours Worked Among Nurses," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 12(3), pages 299-320.
    10. Théophile Azomahou & Bity Diene & Mbaye Diene & Luc Soete, 2015. "Optimal health investment and preference structure," Economic Theory, Springer;Society for the Advancement of Economic Theory (SAET), vol. 60(3), pages 521-565, November.
    11. Gail Pacheco & Don J. Webber, 2011. "Employment propensity: The roles of mental and physical health," Working Papers 2011-01, Auckland University of Technology, Department of Economics.
    12. Manuel Flores & Melchor Fernández & Yolanda Pena-Boquete, 2020. "The impact of health on wages: evidence from Europe before and during the Great Recession," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 72(2), pages 319-346.
    13. Preety Srivastava & Gang Chen & Anthony Harris, 2017. "Oral Health, Dental Insurance and Dental Service use in Australia," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(1), pages 35-53, January.
    14. Emily J. Callander & Deborah J. Schofield, 2015. "Multidimensional Poverty and Health Status as a Predictor of Chronic Income Poverty," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(12), pages 1638-1643, December.
    15. Otsu, Yuki & Yuen, C.Y. Kelvin, 2022. "Health, crime, and the labor market: Theory and policy analysis," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 144(C).
    16. Andrew Sharpe & Alexander Murray, 2011. "State of the Evidence on Health as a Determinant of Productivity," CSLS Research Reports 2011-04, Centre for the Study of Living Standards.
    17. Ann Evans, 2021. "Reflecting on 21 Years of the HILDA Survey," Australian Economic Review, The University of Melbourne, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, vol. 54(4), pages 462-468, December.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Lixin Cai & Guyonne Kalb, 2004. "Health Status and Labour Force Participation: Evidence from the HILDA Data," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2004n04, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    2. Lixin Cai & Guyonne Kalb, 2007. "Health status and labour force status of older working-age Australian men," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 10(4), pages 227-252.
    3. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pc:p:3309-3416 is not listed on IDEAS
    4. Manuel Flores & Adriaan Kalwij, 2019. "What Do Wages Add to the Health‐Employment Nexus? Evidence from Older European Workers," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 81(1), pages 123-145, February.
    5. Heni Wahyuni, 2016. "The impact of health status and smoking behaviour on Indonesian labor wage," Economic Journal of Emerging Markets, Universitas Islam Indonesia, vol. 8(1), pages 1-12, April.
    6. Cai, Lixin, 2010. "The relationship between health and labour force participation: Evidence from a panel data simultaneous equation model," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(1), pages 77-90, January.
    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, March.
    8. Sarah Brown & Jennifer Roberts & Karl Taylor, 2010. "Reservation wages, labour market participation and health," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 173(3), pages 501-529, July.
    9. Lixin Cai & Changxin Cong, 2009. "Effects Of Health And Chronic Diseases On Labour Force Participation Of Older Working‐Age Australians," Australian Economic Papers, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 48(2), pages 166-182, June.
    10. Umut Oguzoglu, 2010. "Dynamics of work limitation and work in Australia," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(6), pages 656-669, June.
    11. Gimenez-Nadal, J. Ignacio & Molina, Jose Alberto, 2015. "Health status and the allocation of time: Cross-country evidence from Europe," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 188-203.
    12. Zhang, Xiaohui & Zhao, Xueyan & Harris, Anthony, 2009. "Chronic diseases and labour force participation in Australia," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 91-108, January.
    13. Owen O'Donnell & Eddy Van Doorslaer & Tom Van Ourti, 2013. "Health and Inequality," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 13-170/V, Tinbergen Institute.
    14. J. Ignacio Gimenez-Nadal & Jose Alberto Molina, 2016. "Health inequality and the uses of time for workers in Europe: policy implications," IZA Journal of European Labor Studies, Springer;Forschungsinstitut zur Zukunft der Arbeit GmbH (IZA), vol. 5(1), pages 1-18, December.
    15. Yolanda Pena-Boquete & Manuel Flores, 2013. "Earnings returns to education, experience and health: Evidence from EU-SILC," ERSA conference papers ersa13p1169, European Regional Science Association.
    16. Doreen Wing Han Au & Thomas F. Crossley & Martin Schellhorn, 2005. "The effect of health changes and long‐term health on the work activity of older Canadians," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 14(10), pages 999-1018, October.
    17. Edwin van Gameren, 2008. "Labor Force Participation of Mexican Elderly: The Importance of Health," Estudios Económicos, El Colegio de México, Centro de Estudios Económicos, vol. 23(1), pages 89-127.
    18. Ebaidalla Mahjoub Ebaidalla & Mohammed Elhaj Mustafa Ali, 2018. "Chronic Illness and Labor Market Participation in Arab Countries: Evidence from Egypt and Tunisia," Working Papers 1229, Economic Research Forum, revised 10 Oct 2018.
    19. Cai, Lixin & Mavromaras, Kostas & Oguzoglu, Umut, 2008. "The Effects of Health and Health Shocks on Hours Worked," IZA Discussion Papers 3496, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    20. Anthony Harris, 2009. "Diabetes, Cardiovascular Disease and Labour Force Participation in Australia: An Endogenous Multivariate Probit Analysis of Clinical Prevalence Data," The Economic Record, The Economic Society of Australia, vol. 85(271), pages 472-484, December.
    21. Manoj K Pandey, 2009. "Labor Force Participation among Indian Elderly: Does Health Matter?," Working Papers id:1987, eSocialSciences.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iae:iaewps:wp2007n02. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sheri Carnegie (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/mimelau.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.