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The Psychosocial Value of Employment: Evidence from a Refugee Camp

Author

Listed:
  • Reshmaan Hussam
  • Erin M. Kelley
  • Gregory Lane
  • Fatima Zahra

Abstract

Employment may be important to well-being for reasons beyond its role as an income source. This paper presents a causal estimate of the psychosocial value of employment in refugee camps in Bangladesh. We involve 745 individuals in a field experiment with three arms: a control arm, a weekly cash arm, and an employment arm of equal value. Employment raises psychosocial well-being substantially more than cash alone, and 66 percent of the employed are willing to forgo cash payments to continue working temporarily for free. Despite material poverty, those in our context both experience and recognize a nonmonetary, psychosocial value to employment.

Suggested Citation

  • Reshmaan Hussam & Erin M. Kelley & Gregory Lane & Fatima Zahra, 2022. "The Psychosocial Value of Employment: Evidence from a Refugee Camp," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 112(11), pages 3694-3724, November.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:112:y:2022:i:11:p:3694-3724
    DOI: 10.1257/aer.20211616
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    Citations

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    Cited by:

    1. Alexander Ahammer & Analisa Packham, 2022. "Disability Insurance Screening and Worker Outcomes," Upjohn Working Papers 22-375, W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research.
    2. Elice, Paola & Martínez Flores, Fernanda & Reichert, Arndt R., 2023. "Religious terrorism, forced migration, and women's empowerment: Evidence from the Boko Haram insurgency," Ruhr Economic Papers 1044, RWI - Leibniz-Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-University Bochum, TU Dortmund University, University of Duisburg-Essen.
    3. Amuedo-Dorantes, Catalina & Ibanez, Ana Maria & Rozo, Sandra V. & Traettino, Salvador, 2023. "More Benefits, Fewer Children: How Regularization Affects Immigrant Fertility," IZA Discussion Papers 16170, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Amorim, Guilherme & Britto, Diogo & Fonseca, Alexandre & Sampaio, Breno, 2024. "Job Loss, Unemployment Insurance, and Health: Evidence from Brazil," IZA Discussion Papers 16790, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Pracht, Wyatt & Ricker-Gilbert, Jacob, 2023. "The Impacts of an Employment Offer on the Aspirations of Rural Youth: Experimental Evidence from Kenya," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335612, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    6. Kasy, Maximilian & Lehner, Lukas, 2023. "Employing the Unemployed of Marienthal: Evaluation of a Guaranteed Job Program," IZA Discussion Papers 16088, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    7. Maximilian Kasy & Lukas Lehner, 2023. "Employing the Unemployed of Marienthal: Evaluation of a Guaranteed Job Program," CESifo Working Paper Series 10394, CESifo.
    8. Swati Dhingra & Fjolla Kondirolli, 2023. "Jobless and Stuck: Youth Unemployment and COVID-19 in India," IMF Economic Review, Palgrave Macmillan;International Monetary Fund, vol. 71(3), pages 580-610, September.
    9. Wein, Tom & Lanthorn, Heather & Fischer, Torben, 2023. "First steps toward building respectful development: Three experiments on dignity in aid in Kenya and the United States," World Development Perspectives, Elsevier, vol. 29(C).
    10. Lehner, Lukas & Kasy, Maximilian, 2022. "Employing the unemployed of Marienthal: Evaluation of a guaranteed job program," INET Oxford Working Papers 2022-29, Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, University of Oxford.
    11. Arlen Guarin & Juliana Londoño-Vélez & Christian Posso, 2023. "Reparations as Development? Evidence from Victims of the Colombian Armed Conflict," Borradores de Economia 1236, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • C93 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Design of Experiments - - - Field Experiments
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities, Races, Indigenous Peoples, and Immigrants; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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