The economic consequences of hospitalizations for older workers across countries

Corina Mommaerts, Syed Hassan Raza and Yu Zheng

The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, 2020, vol. 16, issue C

Abstract: This paper estimates the effect of hospital admissions among older workers on economic outcomes across countries. We use harmonized longitudinal survey data from the United States, China, and 13 countries in Europe, and follow the event study design of Dobkin et al. (2018) to estimate dynamic effects of a hospitalization on out-of-pocket health expenditures, labor market outcomes, social insurance payments, and household income. We find distinctly different patterns across countries. In contrast to the United States, where hospitalizations lead to large health expenditures and decreases in earnings, individuals in Northern and Southern Europe are largely protected from negative economic outcomes. Hospitalizations in China lead to even larger out-of-pocket expenditures as a percent of prior income, but do not negatively affect labor market outcomes. Our results largely align with the differences in generosity across countries in social protection institutions that include health systems, social security programs and labor market regulations.

Keywords: Health shocks; Medical spending; Healthcare system; Social insurance program; Labor market protection; Cross-country differences (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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Working Paper: The Economic Consequences of Hospitalizations for Older Workers across Countries (2019)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:joecag:v:16:y:2020:i:c:s2212828x19301008

DOI: 10.1016/j.jeoa.2019.100213

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