How Does Unemployment Affect the Health-related Behavior of Japanese Men? A Panel Data Analysis

Mari Kan

No 595, CIS Discussion paper series from Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University

Abstract: By using panel data, this study examines the effect of unemployment on various types of individual health-related behavior, namely physical exercise, dietary habits, smoking, drinking, and sleep duration among Japanese men aged 20 ?40 years. The results indicate that the effect of unemployment on health-related behavior varies. It is found that exercise habits and sleep duration are affected by unemployment, while there are no observed effects on dietary habits, smoking, and frequency of drinking. Being unemployed has positive effects on frequency of exercise and sleep duration. When an individual suffers from unemployment in two successive periods, he increases the frequency of exercise, while current unemployment directly affects sleep duration. The positive effects of unemployment on exercise and sleep are explained by the increased time in the health investment function.

Keywords: health capital; unemployment; health-related behavior; exercise; smoking; drinking; sleep; panel data (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I12 I19 J22 J60 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27 pages
Date: 2013-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/hermes/ir/re/25597/cis_dp595.pdf

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hit:cisdps:595

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in CIS Discussion paper series from Center for Intergenerational Studies, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Digital Resources Section, Hitotsubashi University Library ().