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The Effect of Self-Employment on Health: Evidence from Longitudinal Social Security Data

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  • Goncalves, Judite

    (Universidade Nova de Lisboa)

  • Martins, Pedro S.

    (Universidade Nova de Lisboa)

Abstract

The growth of novel flexible work formats raises a number of questions about their effects upon health and the potential required changes in public policy. However, answering these questions is hampered by lack of suitable data. This is the first paper that draws on comprehensive longitudinal administrative data to examine the impact of self-employment in terms of health. It also considers an objective measure of health – hospital admissions – that is not subject to recall or other biases that may affect previous studies. Our findings, based on a representative sample of over 100,000 individuals followed monthly from 2005 to 2011 in Portugal, indicate that the likelihood of hospital admission of self-employed individuals is about half that of wage workers. This finding holds even when accounting for a potential self-selection of the healthy into self-employment. Similar results are found for mortality rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Goncalves, Judite & Martins, Pedro S., 2018. "The Effect of Self-Employment on Health: Evidence from Longitudinal Social Security Data," IZA Discussion Papers 11305, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp11305
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    1. Cornelius A. Rietveld & Hans van Kippersluis & A. Roy Thurik, 2015. "Self‐Employment and Health: Barriers or Benefits?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(10), pages 1302-1313, October.
    2. Pedro S. Martins, 2015. "Working to get fired? Regression discontinuity effects of unemployment benefit eligibility on prior employment duration," Working Papers 61, Queen Mary, University of London, School of Business and Management, Centre for Globalisation Research.
    3. Roy Thurik, 2014. "Entrepreneurship and the business cycle," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 1-90, October.
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    5. Elena Cottini & Paolo Ghinetti, 2018. "Employment insecurity and employees' health in Denmark," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 27(2), pages 426-439, February.
    6. Anne Case & Christina Paxson, 2010. "Causes and consequences of early-life health," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 47(1), pages 65-85, March.
    7. Zissimopoulos, Julie M. & Karoly, Lynn A., 2007. "Transitions to self-employment at older ages: The role of wealth, health, health insurance and other factors," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(2), pages 269-295, April.
    8. Case, Anne & Fertig, Angela & Paxson, Christina, 2005. "The lasting impact of childhood health and circumstance," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 365-389, March.
    9. Riphahn, Regina T., 2004. "Employment protection and effort among German employees," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 85(3), pages 353-357, December.
    10. repec:pri:cheawb:case_and_paxson_early_life_health_w15637 is not listed on IDEAS
    11. repec:pri:cheawb:case_and_paxson_early_life_health_w15637.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    12. repec:pri:rpdevs:case_and_paxson_early_life_health_w15637 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Hessels, Jolanda & Rietveld, Cornelius A. & van der Zwan, Peter, 2017. "Self-employment and work-related stress: The mediating role of job control and job demand," Journal of Business Venturing, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 178-196.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bellmann, Lutz & Hübler, Olaf, 2019. "Personal Attitudes, Job Characteristics and Health," IZA Discussion Papers 12597, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Pedro S. Martins, 2021. "30,000 Minimum Wages: The Economic Effects of Collective Bargaining Extensions," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 59(2), pages 335-369, June.
    3. Olivier Torrès & Roy Thurik, 2019. "Small business owners and health," Small Business Economics, Springer, vol. 53(2), pages 311-321, August.
    4. Wanting Huang & Lei He & Hongxing Lan, 2022. "The Impact of Self-Employment on the Health of Migrant Workers: Evidence from China Migrants Dynamic Survey," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(10), pages 1-19, May.
    5. Sarah Nurain Mohd Noh & Suhana Jawahir & Yeung R’ong Tan & Iqbal Ab Rahim & Ee Hong Tan, 2022. "The Health-Seeking Behavior among Malaysian Adults in Urban and Rural Areas Who Reported Sickness: Findings from the National Health and Morbidity Survey (NHMS) 2019," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-17, March.
    6. Gerrie‐Cor Herber & Maarten Schipper & Marc Koopmanschap & Karin Proper & Fons van der Lucht & Hendriek Boshuizen & Johan Polder & Ellen Uiters, 2020. "Health expenditure of employees versus self‐employed individuals; a 5 year study," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 29(12), pages 1606-1619, December.
    7. Lutz Bellmann & Olaf Hübler, 2022. "Personality traits, working conditions and health: an empirical analysis based on the German Linked Personnel Panel, 2013–2017," Review of Managerial Science, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 283-318, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    self-employment; hospitalization; sick leave; mortality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • J24 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Human Capital; Skills; Occupational Choice; Labor Productivity

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