Health Shocks and Couples' Labor Supply Decisions

Health Shocks and Couples' Labor Supply Decisions
Author: Courtney Coile
Publisher:
Total Pages: 32
Release: 2004
Genre: Catastrophic illness
ISBN:

Unexpected health events such as a heart attack or new cancer diagnosis are very common for workers in their 50s and 60s. These health shocks can result in a significant loss in family income if the worker reduces labor supply, but the family can also protect itself against this loss if the worker's spouse increases labor supply, generating an "added worker effect." In this paper, I examine the effect of health shocks on the labor supply of both spouses using the Health and Retirement Study (HRS). I find that shocks lead the affected worker to reduce labor supply dramatically, particularly if the shock is accompanied by a loss of functioning. I also find that the added worker effect is small for men and that there is no such effect for women. There is some evidence to suggest that families respond to health shocks in predictable ways depending on characteristics such as access to retiree health insurance. The study concludes that health shocks result in real financial losses for families and are an important source of financial risk for older households.

Acute Health Shocks and Labour Market Outcomes

Acute Health Shocks and Labour Market Outcomes
Author: Andrew M. Jones
Publisher:
Total Pages: 44
Release: 2016
Genre:
ISBN:

We investigate the labour supply response to acute health shocks experienced in the post-crash labour market by individuals of working age, using data from Understanding Society. Identification that exploits uncertainty in the timing of an acute health shock, defined by the incidence of cancer, stroke, or heart attack. Results, obtained through a combination of coarsened exact and propensity score matching, show acute health shocks significantly reduce participation, with younger workers displaying stronger labour market attachment. The impact on older, more educated, women suggests an important role for preferences, financial constraints, and intra-household division of labour determining labour supply decisions.

Family Labor Supply Responses to Severe Health Shocks

Family Labor Supply Responses to Severe Health Shocks
Author: Itzik Fadlon
Publisher:
Total Pages:
Release: 2015
Genre:
ISBN:

This paper provides new evidence on how household labor supply responds to fatal and severe non-fatal health shocks in the short- and medium-run. To identify the causal effects of these shock realizations, we leverage administrative data on families' health and labor market outcomes, and construct counterfactuals to affected households by using households that experience the same shock but a few years in the future. We find that fatal health shocks lead to an immediate increase in the surviving spouses' labor supply and that this effect is entirely driven by families who experience significant income losses. Accordingly, widows, who face large income losses when their husbands die, increase their labor force participation by more than 11%; while widowers, who are significantly more financially stable, slightly decrease their labor supply. Notably, however, the patterns of sensitivity to comparable income changes are similar across genders. In contrast to fatal shocks, we find that non-fatal health shocks--in particular, heart attacks or strokes--have no meaningful effects on spousal labor supply, consistent with the adequate insurance coverage for the associated foregone income. Overall, the results point to self-insurance as a driving mechanism for the family labor supply responses that we estimate. Combined with a stylized model, our findings suggest efficient ways to target government transfers through existing social insurance programs.

Beyond Survival

Beyond Survival
Author: Truman G. Packard
Publisher: World Bank Publications
Total Pages: 196
Release: 2006-06-20
Genre: Medical
ISBN: 082136572X

'Beyond Survival' breaks new ground in the ongoing debate about health finance and financial protection from the costs of health care. The evidence and discussion support the need to consider financial protection, in addition to health status, as a policy objective when setting priorities for health systems. This book reviews the Latin American experience with health reform in the last 20 years and the fundamentals of health system financing, using new evidence to show the magnitude and mechanisms that determine the impoverishing effects of health events (diseases, accidents, and those of the life cycle). It provides options for policy makers on how to protect, and help household to protect themselves,against this impoverishment. The authors use empirical evidence from six case studies commissioned for this report, on Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, and Mexico. This book provides policy makers with a solid conceptual basis for decisions on the contents of mandatory health insurance benefit packages, choices of financing mechanisms, and the roles of public policy in this field. 'Beyond Survival' provides an in-depth analysis of, and organizational alternatives for, risk pooling and health insurance for financial protection. It analyzes the urgent need to extend risk pooling to the informal sector, the challenges for current social insurance arrangements, and options for policy makers to effectively extend risk pooling to the informal sector.

Aging in Asia

Aging in Asia
Author: National Research Council
Publisher: National Academies Press
Total Pages: 486
Release: 2012-07-31
Genre: Social Science
ISBN: 0309254094

The population of Asia is growing both larger and older. Demographically the most important continent on the world, Asia's population, currently estimated to be 4.2 billion, is expected to increase to about 5.9 billion by 2050. Rapid declines in fertility, together with rising life expectancy, are altering the age structure of the population so that in 2050, for the first time in history, there will be roughly as many people in Asia over the age of 65 as under the age of 15. It is against this backdrop that the Division of Behavioral and Social Research at the U.S. National Institute on Aging (NIA) asked the National Research Council (NRC), through the Committee on Population, to undertake a project on advancing behavioral and social research on aging in Asia. Aging in Asia: Findings from New and Emerging Data Initiatives is a peer-reviewed collection of papers from China, India, Indonesia, Japan, and Thailand that were presented at two conferences organized in conjunction with the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy, Indonesian Academy of Sciences, and Science Council of Japan; the first conference was hosted by the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing, and the second conference was hosted by the Indian National Science Academy in New Delhi. The papers in the volume highlight the contributions from new and emerging data initiatives in the region and cover subject areas such as economic growth, labor markets, and consumption; family roles and responsibilities; and labor markets and consumption.