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Self-reported health in good times and in bad: Ireland in the 21st century

Author

Listed:
  • Kevin Denny

    (School of Economics and Geary Institute for Public Policy, University College Dublin)

  • Patricia Franken

    (University College Dublin)

Abstract

The Great Recession has renewed interest in whether and how health responds to macroeconomic changes. Ireland provides a convenient natural experiment to examine this since a period of sustained high growth and low unemployment – the so-called Celtic Tiger period- gave way to a deep recession following the economic crisis in 2008. We use data from the Statistics on Income and Living Conditions survey (SILC), to explore what happened to self-reported health over the period 2002-2014. While some sub-populations experienced pro-cyclical effects on self-rated health, in general we find no evidence that the proportion of the population in poor health was higher after the onset of the economic crisis. However a multivariate model implies that there was some effect at the top of the health distribution with a higher unemployment rate switching individuals from being in “very good health” to “good health”. Effect sizes are much larger for females than males.

Suggested Citation

  • Kevin Denny & Patricia Franken, 2016. "Self-reported health in good times and in bad: Ireland in the 21st century," Working Papers 201610, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucd:wpaper:201610
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tøge, Anne Grete & Blekesaune, Morten, 2015. "Unemployment transitions and self-rated health in Europe: A longitudinal analysis of EU-SILC from 2008 to 2011," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 143(C), pages 171-178.
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • J60 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - General

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