The Effect of Health on Income: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Commuting Accidents

Martin Halla and Martina Zweimüller

No 2011-04, Economics working papers from Department of Economics, Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria

Abstract: This paper interprets accidents occurring on the way to and from work as negative health shocks to identify the causal effect of health on labor market outcomes. We argue that in our sample of exactly matched treated and control workers, these health shocks are quasi-randomly assigned. A fixed-effects difference-in-differences approach estimates a negative and persistent effect on subsequent employment and income. After initial periods with a higher incidence of sick leave, treated workers are more likely unemployed, and a growing share of them leaves the labor market via disability retirement. Those treated workers, who manage to stay in employment, incur persistent income losses. The effects are stronger for sub-groups of workers who are typically less attached to the labor market.

Keywords: Health; employment; income (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D31 I10 J22 J24 J26 J28 J31 J64 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 42 pages
Date: 2011-06, Revised 2012-02
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-lab
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (4)

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http://www.econ.jku.at/papers/2011/wp1104.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
Working Paper: The Effect of Health on Income: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Commuting Accidents (2012)
Working Paper: The Effect of Health on Income: Quasi-Experimental Evidence from Commuting Accidents (2011)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:jku:econwp:2011_04

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