Arbeitspapier

The effect of unemployment on the mental health of spouses: Evidence from plant closures in Germany

Studies on health effects of unemployment usually neglect spillover effects on spouses. This study specifically investigates the effect of an individual's unemployment on the mental health of their spouse. In order to allow for causal interpretation of the estimates, it focuses on an exogenous entry into unemployment (i.e. plant closure), and combines difference-in-difference and matching based on entropy balancing to provide robustness against observable and time-invariant unobservable heterogeneity. Using German Socio-Economic Panel Study data the paper reveals that unemployment decreases the mental health of spouses almost as much as for the directly affected individuals. The findings highlight that previous studies underestimate the public health costs of unemployment as they do not account for the potential consequences for spouses.

Sprache
Englisch

Erschienen in
Series: SOEPpapers on Multidisciplinary Panel Data Research ; No. 488

Klassifikation
Wirtschaft
Health Behavior
Unemployment Insurance; Severance Pay; Plant Closings
Thema
unemployment
mental health
plant closure
entropy balancing
matching
job loss
Arbeitslosigkeit
Psychische Störung
Spillover-Effekt
Ehe
Familie
Schätzung
Deutschland

Ereignis
Geistige Schöpfung
(wer)
Marcus, Jan
Ereignis
Veröffentlichung
(wer)
Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW)
(wo)
Berlin
(wann)
2012

Handle
Letzte Aktualisierung
20.09.2024, 08:22 MESZ

Datenpartner

Dieses Objekt wird bereitgestellt von:
ZBW - Deutsche Zentralbibliothek für Wirtschaftswissenschaften - Leibniz-Informationszentrum Wirtschaft. Bei Fragen zum Objekt wenden Sie sich bitte an den Datenpartner.

Objekttyp

  • Arbeitspapier

Beteiligte

  • Marcus, Jan
  • Deutsches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung (DIW)

Entstanden

  • 2012

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