Intensive informal care and impairments in work productivity and activity

Ingo Kolodziej, Norma Coe and Courtney Harold Van Houtven

No 1010, Ruhr Economic Papers from RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen

Abstract: Informal care reduces work on the intensive and extensive margins; however, we do not know how caregiving affects work productivity. We link two new unique national U.S. data sets to provide the first causal estimates of the effect of providing at least 80 hours of informal care in the past month on work productivity, compared to less intensive caregiving. We control for caregiver selection into work using a Heckman selection model and use instrumental variables to estimate the causal effect of providing at least 80 hours in the past month on work productivity, using the Work Productivity and Activity Impairment (WPAI) instrument, and weekly hours worked. The IV is widowhood status of the care recipient. For both the OLS and IV results, providing at least 80 hours in the past month is associated with a 0.07-0.13 point increase in the WPAI compared to non-intensive caregivers, signifying lower work productivity. This result is mainly driven by presenteeism, or employees being less productive on the job, as opposed to absenteeism, measured by missed days of work. The OLS models are precisely estimated (p

Keywords: Informal care; work productivity; Heckman selection correction; instrumental variables (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C36 I1 J14 J24 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-eff, nep-hea and nep-lma
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:zbw:rwirep:1010

DOI: 10.4419/96973176

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