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

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  • Kevin Denny
  • Patricia Franken

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 201607, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucn:wpaper:201607
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10197/7859
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    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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    6. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2015. "Recessions, healthy no more?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 17-28.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Self-reported health; Well-being; Recession; Unemployment; Ireland;
    All these keywords.

    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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