Losing heart? : the effect of job displacement on health
Working paper
Permanent lenke
http://hdl.handle.net/11250/163426Utgivelsesdato
2012-12Metadata
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- Discussion papers (SAM) [649]
Sammendrag
Job reallocation is considered to be a key characteristic of well-functioning labor markets, as
more productive firms grow and less productive ones contract or close. However, despite its
potential benefits for the economy, there are significant costs that are borne by displaced
workers. We study how job displacement in Norway affects cardiovascular health using a
sample of men and women who are predominantly aged in their early forties. To do so we
merge survey data on health and health behaviors with register data on person and firm
characteristics. We track the health of displaced and non-displaced workers from 5 years
before to 7 years after displacement. We find that job displacement has a negative effect on
the health of both men and women. Importantly, much of this effect is driven by an increase
in smoking behavior. These results are robust to a variety of specification checks.