IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp10808.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Health and Health Inequality during the Great Recession: Evidence from the PSID

Author

Listed:
  • Wang, Chenggang

    (University of Hawaii at Manoa)

  • Wang, Huixia

    (Hunan University)

  • Halliday, Timothy J.

    (University of Hawaii at Manoa)

Abstract

We estimate the impact of the Great Recession of 2007–2009 on health outcomes in the United States. We show that a one percentage point increase in the unemployment rate resulted in a 7.8–8.8 percent increase in reports of poor health. Mental health was also adversely impacted and reports of chronic drinking increased. These effects were concentrated among those with strong labor force attachments. Whites, the less educated, and women were the most impacted demographic groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Wang, Chenggang & Wang, Huixia & Halliday, Timothy J., 2017. "Health and Health Inequality during the Great Recession: Evidence from the PSID," IZA Discussion Papers 10808, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp10808
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp10808.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Thomas S. Dee, 2001. "Alcohol abuse and economic conditions: Evidence from repeated cross‐sections of individual‐level data," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 10(3), pages 257-270, April.
    2. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2005. "Healthy living in hard times," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 341-363, March.
    3. Ann H. Stevens & Douglas L. Miller & Marianne E. Page & Mateusz Filipski, 2015. "The Best of Times, the Worst of Times: Understanding Pro-cyclical Mortality," American Economic Journal: Economic Policy, American Economic Association, vol. 7(4), pages 279-311, November.
    4. Cawley, John & Maclean, Johanna Catherine & Hammer, Mette & Wintfeld, Neil, 2015. "Reporting error in weight and its implications for bias in economic models," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 27-44.
    5. Laura Argys & Andrew Friedson & M. Melinda Pitts, 2016. "Killer Debt: The Impact of Debt on Mortality," FRB Atlanta Working Paper 2016-14, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta.
    6. Crost, Benjamin & Friedson, Andrew, 2017. "Recessions and health revisited: New findings for working age adults," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 27(PA), pages 241-247.
    7. Hilary Williamson Hoynes, 2000. "Local Labor Markets And Welfare Spells: Do Demand Conditions Matter?," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 82(3), pages 351-368, August.
    8. Michael Baker & Mark Stabile & Catherine Deri, 2004. "What Do Self-Reported, Objective, Measures of Health Measure?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 39(4).
    9. Erdal Tekin & Chandler McClellan & Karen Jean Minyard, 2013. "Health and Health Behaviors during the Worst of Times," NBER Working Papers 19234, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Halliday, Timothy J., 2014. "Unemployment and mortality: Evidence from the PSID," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 113(C), pages 15-22.
    11. Courtemanche, Charles & Pinkston, Joshua C. & Stewart, Jay, 2015. "Adjusting body mass for measurement error with invalid validation data," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 19(C), pages 275-293.
    12. Griliches, Zvi & Hausman, Jerry A., 1986. "Errors in variables in panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 93-118, February.
    13. Henry S. Farber, 2015. "Job Loss in the Great Recession and its Aftermath: U.S. Evidence from the Displaced Workers Survey," NBER Working Papers 21216, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Bartik, Timothy J., 1996. "The Distributional Effects of Local Labor Demand and Industrial Mix: Estimates Using Individual Panel Data," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(2), pages 150-178, September.
    15. Joshua D. Angrist & Jörn-Steffen Pischke, 2009. "Mostly Harmless Econometrics: An Empiricist's Companion," Economics Books, Princeton University Press, edition 1, number 8769.
    16. Ásgeirsdóttir, Tinna Laufey & Corman, Hope & Noonan, Kelly & Reichman, Nancy E., 2016. "Lifecycle effects of a recession on health behaviors: Boom, bust, and recovery in Iceland," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 20(C), pages 90-107.
    17. Tinna Laufey Ásgeirsdóttir & Hope Corman & Kelly Noonan & Þórhildur Ólafsdóttir & Nancy E. Reichman, 2012. "Are Recessions Good for Your Health Behaviors? Impacts of the Economic Crisis in Iceland," NBER Working Papers 18233, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Angus Deaton, 2012. "The financial crisis and the well-being of Americans," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 64(1), pages 1-26, January.
    19. Gerdtham, Ulf-G. & Ruhm, Christopher J., 2006. "Deaths rise in good economic times: Evidence from the OECD," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 298-316, December.
    20. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2000. "Are Recessions Good for Your Health?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(2), pages 617-650.
    21. Charles, Kerwin Kofi & DeCicca, Philip, 2008. "Local labor market fluctuations and health: Is there a connection and for whom?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(6), pages 1532-1550, December.
    22. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2003. "Good times make you sick," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 637-658, July.
    23. Ariizumi, Hideki & Schirle, Tammy, 2012. "Are recessions really good for your health? Evidence from Canada," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 74(8), pages 1224-1231.
    24. Gary Solon & Steven J. Haider & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2015. "What Are We Weighting For?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 50(2), pages 301-316.
    25. repec:dau:papers:123456789/7024 is not listed on IDEAS
    26. Colman, Gregory & Dave, Dhaval, 2013. "Exercise, physical activity, and exertion over the business cycle," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 93(C), pages 11-20.
    27. Chad Cotti & Richard A. Dunn & Chad Cotti, 2015. "The Great Recession and Consumer Demand for Alcohol: A Dynamic Panel-Data Analysis of US Households," American Journal of Health Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 1(3), pages 297-325, Summer.
    28. Tom Buchmueller & Michel Grignon & Florence Jusot, 2007. "Unemployment and Mortality in France, 1982-2002," Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis Working Paper Series 2007-04, Centre for Health Economics and Policy Analysis (CHEPA), McMaster University, Hamilton, Canada.
    29. María E. Dávalos & Hai Fang & Michael T. French, 2012. "Easing The Pain Of An Economic Downturn: Macroeconomic Conditions And Excessive Alcohol Consumption," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(11), pages 1318-1335, November.
    30. Falconi, April & Gemmill, Alison & Karasek, Deborah & Goodman, Julia & Anderson, Beth & Lee, Murray & Bellows, Benjamin & Catalano, Ralph, 2016. "Stroke-attributable death among older persons during the great recession," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 56-63.
    31. Fidel Gonzalez & Troy Quast, 2011. "Macroeconomic changes and mortality in Mexico," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 40(2), pages 305-319, April.
    32. Tekin, Erdal & McClellan, Chandler & Minyard, Karen Jean, 2013. "Health and Health Behaviors during the Worst of Times: Evidence from the Great Recession," IZA Discussion Papers 7538, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    33. McInerney, Melissa & Mellor, Jennifer M. & Nicholas, Lauren Hersch, 2013. "Recession depression: Mental health effects of the 2008 stock market crash," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1090-1104.
    34. Tefft, Nathan, 2011. "Insights on unemployment, unemployment insurance, and mental health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(2), pages 258-264, March.
    35. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2015. "Recessions, healthy no more?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 17-28.
    36. James Banks & James P. Smith, 2012. "International Comparisons in Health Economics: Evidence from Aging Studies," Annual Review of Economics, Annual Reviews, vol. 4(1), pages 57-81, July.
    37. Lindo, Jason M., 2015. "Aggregation and the estimated effects of economic conditions on health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 83-96.
    38. Browning, Martin & Heinesen, Eskil, 2012. "Effect of job loss due to plant closure on mortality and hospitalization," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(4), pages 599-616.
    39. Martin Bassols, Nicolau & Vall Castelló, Judit, 2016. "Effects of the great recession on drugs consumption in Spain," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 103-116.
    40. Halliday, Timothy J., 2007. "Business cycles, migration and health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(7), pages 1420-1424, April.
    41. Sabrina Wulff Pabilonia, 2017. "Teenagers’ risky health behaviors and time use during the great recession," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 15(3), pages 945-964, September.
    42. Carpenter, Christopher S. & McClellan, Chandler B. & Rees, Daniel I., 2017. "Economic conditions, illicit drug use, and substance use disorders in the United States," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 63-73.
    43. Martin Browning & Anne Moller Dano & Eskil Heinesen, 2006. "Job displacement and stress‐related health outcomes," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 15(10), pages 1061-1075, October.
    44. Gerdtham, Ulf-G. & Johannesson, Magnus, 2003. "A note on the effect of unemployment on mortality," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(3), pages 505-518, May.
    45. 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.
    46. Henry S. Farber, 2015. "Job Loss in the Great Recession and its Aftermath: U.S. Evidence from the Displaced Workers Survey," Working Papers 589, Princeton University, Department of Economics, Industrial Relations Section..
    47. John Cawley, 2004. "The Impact of Obesity on Wages," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 39(2).
    48. Vellore Arthi & Brian Beach & W. Walker Hanlon, 2017. "Estimating the Recession-Mortality Relationship when Migration Matters," NBER Working Papers 23507, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    49. Gerdtham, Ulf-G. & Johannesson, Magnus, 2005. "Business cycles and mortality: results from Swedish microdata," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 60(1), pages 205-218, January.
    50. 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.
    51. Anne Case & Angua Deaton, 2015. "Rising morbidity and mortality in midlife among white non-Hispanic Americans in the 21st century," Working Papers 15078.full.pdf, Princeton University, Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Research Program in Development Studies..
    52. Paling, Thomas & Vall Castello, Judit, 2017. "Business cycle impacts on substance use of adolescents: A multi-country analysis," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 27(PA), pages 1-11.
    53. Jensen, Robert T. & Richter, Kaspar, 2004. "The health implications of social security failure: evidence from the Russian pension crisis," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(1-2), pages 209-236, January.
    54. Neumayer, Eric, 2004. "Recessions lower (some) mortality rates:: evidence from Germany," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(6), pages 1037-1047, March.
    55. Farber, Henry S, 2015. "Job Loss in the Great Recession and its Aftermath: U.S. Evidence from the Displaced Workers Survey," IZA Discussion Papers 9069, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    56. Fitzgerald John M, 2011. "Attrition in Models of Intergenerational Links Using the PSID with Extensions to Health and to Sibling Models," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(3), pages 1-63, September.
    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. Janke, Katharina & Lee, Kevin & Propper, Carol & Shields, Kalvinder & Shields, Michael A., 2020. "Macroeconomic Conditions and Health in Britain: Aggregation, Dynamics and Local Area Heterogeneity," IZA Discussion Papers 13091, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Ubaldi, Michele & Picchio, Matteo, 2024. "In the Wrong Place at the Wrong Time: The Impact of Mass Shooting Exposure on Mental Health," IZA Discussion Papers 17388, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    3. Lizhong Peng & Jie Chen & Xiaohui Guo, 2022. "Macroeconomic conditions and health‐related outcomes in the United States: A metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area‐level analysis between 2004 and 2017," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 3-20, January.
    4. Bencsik, Panka & Halliday, Timothy J. & Mazumder, Bhashkar, 2023. "The intergenerational transmission of mental and physical health in the United Kingdom," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(C).
    5. 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.
    6. Zhao, Yuejun, 2023. "Job displacement and the mental health of households: Burden sharing counteracts spillover," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    7. Li Donni, Paolo, 2019. "The unobserved pattern of material hardship and health among older Americans," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 65(C), pages 31-42.
    8. Timothy M. Smeeding, 2018. "The PSID in Research and Policy," The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, , vol. 680(1), pages 29-47, November.
    9. Nicolò Russo & Rory McGee & Mariacristina De Nardi & Margherita Borella & Ross Abram, 2024. "Health inequality and economic disparities by race, ethnicity, and gender," IFS Working Papers W24/41, Institute for Fiscal Studies.
    10. Valerie Mueller & Karen Grépin & Atonu Rabbani & Anne Ngunjiri & Amy Oyekunle & Clare Wenham, 2023. "Domestic Burdens Amid Covid-19 and Women’s Mental Health in Middle-Income Africa," Feminist Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 29(2), pages 192-218, April.
    11. Elena Puerto-Casasasnovas & Jorge Galiana-Richart & María Paola Mastrantonio-Ramos & Francisco López-Muñoz & Alfredo Rocafort-Nicolau, 2023. "Direct and Indirect Management Models in Public Health in the Framework of Mental Health," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(3), pages 1-11, January.
    12. Mario Martínez-Jiménez & Judit Vall Castelló, 2020. "Effects of macroeconomic fluctuations on mental health and psychotropic medicine consumption," International Journal of Health Economics and Management, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 277-297, September.
    13. Yana Vierboom, 2017. "The contribution of differences in adiposity to educational disparities in mortality in the United States," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(54), pages 1735-1760.
    14. De, Prabal K. & Segura-Escano, Raul, 2021. "Drinking during downturn: New evidence from the housing market fluctuations in the United States during the Great Recession," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 43(C).
    15. Kronenberg, Christoph & Boehnke, Jan R., 2019. "How did the 2008-11 financial crisis affect work-related common mental distress? Evidence from 393 workplaces in Great Britain," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 33(C), pages 193-200.
    16. 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).
    17. Yeonwoo Kim & Manuel Cano & Sehun Oh & Michael Betz, 2022. "County-Level Economic Changes and Drug Mortality in the United States: Evidence from the Great Recession," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(23), pages 1-11, 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. Chenggang Wang & Huixia Wang & Timothy J. Halliday, 2017. "Health and Health Inequality during the Great Recession: Evidence from the PSID," Working Papers 201703, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    2. Huixia Wang & Chenggang Wang & Timothy Halliday, 2016. "Money and Credit: Health and Health Inequality during the Great Recession: Evidence from the PSID," Working Papers 201615, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    3. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2015. "Recessions, healthy no more?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 17-28.
    4. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2016. "Health Effects of Economic Crises," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(S2), pages 6-24, November.
    5. Propper, Carol & Janke, Katharina & Lee, Kevin & Shields, Kalvinder & Shields, Michael A, 2020. "Macroeconomic Conditions and Health in Britain: Aggregation, Dynamics and Local Area Heterogeneity," CEPR Discussion Papers 14507, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Lowenstein, Christopher, 2024. "“Deaths of despair” over the business cycle: New estimates from a shift-share instrumental variables approach," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    7. Colombo, Emilio & Rotondi, Valentina & Stanca, Luca, 2018. "Macroeconomic conditions and health: Inspecting the transmission mechanism," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 29-37.
    8. 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.
    9. Kristín Helga Birgisdóttir & Tinna Laufey Ásgeirsdóttir, 2017. "Macroeconomic conditions and population health in Iceland," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 37(25), pages 769-852.
    10. Erkmen G. Aslim & Shin‐Yi Chou & Kuhelika De, 2024. "Business cycles and healthcare employment," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 33(9), pages 2123-2161, September.
    11. Garth Heutel & Christopher J. Ruhm, 2016. "Air Pollution and Procyclical Mortality," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(3), pages 667-706.
    12. Avdic, Daniel & de New, Sonja C. & Kamhöfer, Daniel A., 2021. "Economic downturns and mental health in Germany," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 140(C).
    13. Avdic, Daniel & de New, Sonja C. & Kamhöfer, Daniel A., 2020. "Economic downturns and mental wellbeing," DICE Discussion Papers 337, Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf Institute for Competition Economics (DICE).
    14. Lindo, Jason M., 2015. "Aggregation and the estimated effects of economic conditions on health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 83-96.
    15. Shamma Adeeb Alam & Bijetri Bose, 2022. "Stepping into adulthood during a recession: Did job losses during the Great Recession impact health of young adults?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(8), pages 1730-1751, August.
    16. Martin Bassols, Nicolau & Vall Castelló, Judit, 2016. "Effects of the great recession on drugs consumption in Spain," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 22(C), pages 103-116.
    17. Cristina Bellés‐Obrero & Sergi Jiménez‐Martín & Judit Vall‐Castello, 2016. "Bad Times, Slimmer Children?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(S2), pages 93-112, November.
    18. Strumpf, Erin C. & Charters, Thomas J. & Harper, Sam & Nandi, Arijit, 2017. "Did the Great Recession affect mortality rates in the metropolitan United States? Effects on mortality by age, gender and cause of death," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 189(C), pages 11-16.
    19. Hollingsworth, Alex & Ruhm, Christopher J. & Simon, Kosali, 2017. "Macroeconomic conditions and opioid abuse," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 56(C), pages 222-233.
    20. Bassanini, Andrea & Caroli, Eve, 2014. "Is work bad for health? The role of constraint vs choice," CEPREMAP Working Papers (Docweb) 1402, CEPREMAP.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Great Recession; health behaviors; health outcomes; inequality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I0 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - General
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality

    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:iza:izadps:dp10808. 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: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.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.