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Macroeconomic Conditions and Health: Inspecting the Transmission Mechanism

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  • Emilio, Colombo
  • Valentina, Rotondi
  • Luca, Stanca

Abstract

This paper studies the effects of labor market conditions on individual-level health, investigating the factors that moderate and mediate this relationship. Using a large and representative sample of individuals in Italy between 1993 and 2012, we shed light on the transmission mechanism, focusing on the role played by health behaviors (smoking, alcohol consumption, physical activity, eating habits) and economic stress. We find that, overall, higher local unemployment negatively affects health, with a dynamic response that differs across health conditions. Employment status and educational level play a significant role as moderators of these effects. Eating habits, in addition to economic stress, are found to play a key role in the transmission mechanism, while physical activity acts as a buffer against the adverse health effects of unemployment shocks.

Suggested Citation

  • Emilio, Colombo & Valentina, Rotondi & Luca, Stanca, 2016. "Macroeconomic Conditions and Health: Inspecting the Transmission Mechanism," Working Papers 337, University of Milano-Bicocca, Department of Economics, revised 31 Dec 2016.
    • Handle: RePEc:mib:wpaper:337
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    3. Curtis, Sarah & Pearce, Jamie & Cherrie, Mark & Dibben, Christopher & Cunningham, Niall & Bambra, Clare, 2019. "Changing labour market conditions during the ‘great recession’ and mental health in Scotland 2007–2011: an example using the Scottish Longitudinal Study and data for local areas in Scotland," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 227(C), pages 1-9.
    4. Janke, Katharina & Lee, Kevin & Propper, Carol & Shields, Kalvinder & Shields, Michael A., 2023. "Economic conditions and health: Local effects, national effect and local area heterogeneity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 214(C), pages 801-828.
    5. 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.
    6. Beleche, Trinidad & Cintina, Inna, 2018. "Fracking and risky behaviors: Evidence from Pennsylvania," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 69-82.
    7. Federico Belotti & Joanna Kopinska & Alessandro Palma & Andrea Piano Mortari, 2022. "Health status and the Great Recession. Evidence from electronic health records," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(8), pages 1770-1799, August.
    8. Kaiser, Micha & Reutter, Mirjam & Sousa-Poza, Alfonso & Strohmaier, Kristina, 2018. "Smoking and local unemployment: Evidence from Germany," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 138-147.
    9. Yutian Yang, 2022. "Does economic growth induce smoking?—Evidence from China," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 63(2), pages 821-845, August.
    10. Seuring, Till & Serneels, Pieter & Suhrcke, Marc & Bachmann, Max, 2020. "Diabetes, employment and behavioural risk factors in China: Marginal structural models versus fixed effects models," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    11. Takaaki Ikeda & Kemmyo Sugiyama & Jun Aida & Toru Tsuboya & Ken Osaka, 2019. "The Contextual Effect of Area-Level Unemployment Rate on Lower Back Pain: A Multilevel Analysis of Three Consecutive Surveys of 962,586 Workers in Japan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-11, October.
    12. Robert J. Kolesar & Rok Spruk, 2024. "Effect of Austerity Measures on Infant Mortality: Evidence from Greece," Papers 2407.17084, arXiv.org.
    13. 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).

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    Keywords

    Economic conditions; unemployment; health behaviors; health outcomes;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I10 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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