This Recession Is Wearing Me Out! Health-Related Quality of Life and Economic Downturns

Previous research on the relationships between macroeconomic conditions and health status reveal improvements in physical health during economic downturns. However, few studies have examined whether mental health status improves or declines during tough economic times. This paper estimates the effec...

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Main Authors:	Davalos, Maria E., French, Michael T.
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	EN
Published:	2012
Subjects:	Business Fluctuations Cycles E320 Financial Crises G010 Health Production I120 Health: Government Policy Regulation Public Health I180 General Welfare I310
Online Access:	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5578

id	okr-10986-5578
recordtype	oai_dc
spelling	okr-10986-55782021-04-23T14:02:22Z This Recession Is Wearing Me Out! Health-Related Quality of Life and Economic Downturns Davalos, Maria E. French, Michael T. Business Fluctuations Cycles E320 Financial Crises G010 Health Production I120 Health: Government Policy Regulation Public Health I180 General Welfare I310 Previous research on the relationships between macroeconomic conditions and health status reveal improvements in physical health during economic downturns. However, few studies have examined whether mental health status improves or declines during tough economic times. This paper estimates the effect of a key macroeconomic indicator, the state-level unemployment rate, on health-related quality of life. Analyzing recent data from Waves 1 and 2 of the NESARC and controlling for individual heterogeneity with fixed-effects models, our study suggests that health-related quality of life, both physical and mental, worsens with increases in the unemployment rate. Although the effect sizes are relatively small in magnitude for both outcomes, the impact is more pronounced for mental health. These results raise questions about the unexpected findings reported in earlier studies of a health-improving effect of economic downturns and suggest that the current worldwide economic recession may have some serious hidden costs. 2012-03-30T07:33:30Z 2012-03-30T07:33:30Z 2011 Journal Article Journal of Mental Health Policy and Economics 10914358 http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5578 EN http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo World Bank Journal Article
repository_type	Digital Repository
institution_category	Foreign Institution
institution	Digital Repositories
building	World Bank Open Knowledge Repository
collection	World Bank
language	EN
topic	Business Fluctuations Cycles E320 Financial Crises G010 Health Production I120 Health: Government Policy Regulation Public Health I180 General Welfare I310
spellingShingle	Business Fluctuations Cycles E320 Financial Crises G010 Health Production I120 Health: Government Policy Regulation Public Health I180 General Welfare I310 Davalos, Maria E. French, Michael T. This Recession Is Wearing Me Out! Health-Related Quality of Life and Economic Downturns
relation	http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/igo
description	Previous research on the relationships between macroeconomic conditions and health status reveal improvements in physical health during economic downturns. However, few studies have examined whether mental health status improves or declines during tough economic times. This paper estimates the effect of a key macroeconomic indicator, the state-level unemployment rate, on health-related quality of life. Analyzing recent data from Waves 1 and 2 of the NESARC and controlling for individual heterogeneity with fixed-effects models, our study suggests that health-related quality of life, both physical and mental, worsens with increases in the unemployment rate. Although the effect sizes are relatively small in magnitude for both outcomes, the impact is more pronounced for mental health. These results raise questions about the unexpected findings reported in earlier studies of a health-improving effect of economic downturns and suggest that the current worldwide economic recession may have some serious hidden costs.
format	Journal Article
author	Davalos, Maria E. French, Michael T.
author_facet	Davalos, Maria E. French, Michael T.
author_sort	Davalos, Maria E.
title	This Recession Is Wearing Me Out! Health-Related Quality of Life and Economic Downturns
title_short	This Recession Is Wearing Me Out! Health-Related Quality of Life and Economic Downturns
title_full	This Recession Is Wearing Me Out! Health-Related Quality of Life and Economic Downturns
title_fullStr	This Recession Is Wearing Me Out! Health-Related Quality of Life and Economic Downturns
title_full_unstemmed	This Recession Is Wearing Me Out! Health-Related Quality of Life and Economic Downturns
title_sort	this recession is wearing me out! health-related quality of life and economic downturns
publishDate	2012
url	http://hdl.handle.net/10986/5578
_version_	1764395545340674048

This Recession Is Wearing Me Out! Health-Related Quality of Life and Economic Downturns

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