IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jijerp/v16y2019i21p4214-d281869.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Spillover Effects of Spousal Chronic Diseases on Married Couples’ Labour Supply: Evidence from China

Author

Listed:
  • Zheng Shen

    (School of Economics and Management, Zhejiang A&F University, Hangzhou 311300, China)

  • Xiaodong Zheng

    (School of Economics, Zhejiang Gongshang University, Hangzhou 310018, China)

  • Yiwen Tan

    (College of Economics and Management, China Agricultural University, Beijing 100083, China)

Abstract

The objective of this study is to examine the spillover effects of chronic diseases experienced by spouses on their wives or husbands’ labour supply. Using data from 2010 and 2012 of the China Family Panel Studies (CFPS), this study employed a difference-in-difference (DD) strategy to investigate the average treatment effect of affected adults on their spouses’ working hours. The results show that, after their spouses were diagnosed with chronic diseases, the average weekly working hours of wives and husbands would be significantly reduced by 3.7–4.2 h and 3.8–4.4 h, respectively. Specially, the average weekly hours of full-time work would be reduced by 2.1–3.3 h for wives and 3.6–3.8 h for husbands. The effect was stronger for those married couples with lower socioeconomic status (SES), such as low-level education, family asset, non-labour income, while the effect was insignificant for high-level SES households. Therefore, as a result of the adverse spillover effects on household labour supply, chronic diseases could cause a greater loss of labour force productivity. Additionally, households in low levels of SES may suffer more losses from reduced labour supply when spousal chronic diseases take place.

Suggested Citation

  • Zheng Shen & Xiaodong Zheng & Yiwen Tan, 2019. "The Spillover Effects of Spousal Chronic Diseases on Married Couples’ Labour Supply: Evidence from China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(21), pages 1-18, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:21:p:4214-:d:281869
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/21/4214/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/16/21/4214/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Bolin, Kristian & Jacobson, Lena & Lindgren, Bjorn, 2001. "The family as the health producer -- when spouses are Nash-bargainers," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 20(3), pages 349-362, May.
    2. Zhang, Xiaohui & Zhao, Xueyan & Harris, Anthony, 2009. "Chronic diseases and labour force participation in Australia," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 91-108, January.
    3. Michael Baker & Mark Stabile & Catherine Deri, 2004. "What Do Self-Reported, Objective, Measures of Health Measure?," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 39(4).
    4. Yu, Hao, 2015. "Universal health insurance coverage for 1.3 billion people: What accounts for China's success?," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 119(9), pages 1145-1152.
    5. Parsons, Donald O, 1977. "Health, Family Structure, and Labor Supply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 67(4), pages 703-712, September.
    6. Candon, David, 2015. "The effects of cancer on older workers in the English labour market," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 18(C), pages 74-84.
    7. Michaud, Pierre-Carl & Vermeulen, Frederic, 2011. "A collective labor supply model with complementarities in leisure: Identification and estimation by means of panel data," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 159-167, April.
    8. Chiappori, Pierre-Andre, 1988. "Rational Household Labor Supply," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 56(1), pages 63-90, January.
    9. Chiappori, Pierre-Andre, 1997. "Introducing Household Production in Collective Models of Labor Supply," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(1), pages 191-209, February.
    10. Andersen, Martin, 2015. "Heterogeneity and the effect of mental health parity mandates on the labor market," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 74-84.
    11. James Heckman & Hidehiko Ichimura & Jeffrey Smith & Petra Todd, 1998. "Characterizing Selection Bias Using Experimental Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 66(5), pages 1017-1098, September.
    12. Bloom, David E. & Cafiero-Fonseca, Elizabeth T. & McGovern, Mark E. & Prettner, Klaus & Stanciole, Anderson & Weiss, Jonathan & Bakkila, Samuel & Rosenberg, Larry, 2014. "The macroeconomic impact of non-communicable diseases in China and India: Estimates, projections, and comparisons," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 4(C), pages 100-111.
    13. Guido W. Imbens & Jeffrey M. Wooldridge, 2009. "Recent Developments in the Econometrics of Program Evaluation," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 47(1), pages 5-86, March.
    14. Pollak, Robert A & Wachter, Michael L, 1975. "The Relevance of the Household Production Function and Its Implications for the Allocation of Time," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 83(2), pages 255-277, April.
    15. Apps, Patricia F & Rees, Ray, 1997. "Collective Labor Supply and Household Production," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 105(1), pages 178-190, February.
    16. Boyle, Melissa A. & Lahey, Joanna N., 2016. "Spousal labor market effects from government health insurance: Evidence from a veterans affairs expansion," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 63-76.
    17. Heinesen, Eskil & Kolodziejczyk, Christophe, 2013. "Effects of breast and colorectal cancer on labour market outcomes—Average effects and educational gradients," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 32(6), pages 1028-1042.
    18. Pilar García-Gómez & Hans van Kippersluis & Owen O’Donnell & Eddy van Doorslaer, 2013. "Long-Term and Spillover Effects of Health Shocks on Employment and Income," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 48(4), pages 873-909.
    19. Liu, Xiaoou & Zhu, Chen, 2014. "Will knowing diabetes affect labor income? Evidence from a natural experiment," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 124(1), pages 74-78.
    20. Jacobson, Lena, 2000. "The family as producer of health -- an extended grossman model," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 19(5), pages 611-637, September.
    21. Grossman, Michael, 1972. "On the Concept of Health Capital and the Demand for Health," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 80(2), pages 223-255, March-Apr.
    22. Bolin, Kristian & Jacobson, Lena & Lindgren, Bjorn, 2002. "The family as the health producer--when spouses act strategically," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 21(3), pages 475-495, May.
    23. Courtney Harold Van Houtven & Norma B. Coe, 2010. "Spousal Health Shocks and the Timing of the Retirement Decision in the Face of Forward-Looking Financial Incentives," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College wp2010-6, Center for Retirement Research.
    24. Xiao-yuan Dong & Xinli An, 2015. "Gender Patterns and Value of Unpaid Care Work: Findings From China's First Large-Scale Time Use Survey," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 61(3), pages 540-560, September.
    25. Lundberg, Shelly, 1985. "The Added Worker Effect," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(1), pages 11-37, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Nicholas A. Jolly & Nikolaos Theodoropoulos, 2023. "Health shocks and spousal labor supply: an international perspective," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(2), pages 973-1004, April.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Tipper, Adam, 2010. "Economic models of the family and the relationship between economic status and health," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 70(10), pages 1567-1573, May.
    2. Jara-Díaz, Sergio & Rosales-Salas, Jorge, 2017. "Beyond transport time: A review of time use modeling," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 209-230.
    3. Macchioni Giaquinto, Annarita & Jones, Andrew M. & Rice, Nigel & Zantomio, Francesca, 2021. "Labour supply and informal care responses to health shocks within couples: evidence from the UKHLS," GLO Discussion Paper Series 806, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    4. Johannes Schuenemann & Holger Strulik & Timo Trimborn, 2020. "The Marriage Gap: Optimal Aging and Death in Partnerships," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics, vol. 36, pages 158-176, April.
    5. Annarita Macchioni Giaquinto & Andrew M. Jones & Nigel Rice & Francesca Zantomio, 2022. "Labor supply and informal care responses to health shocks within couples: Evidence from the UK," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(12), pages 2700-2720, December.
    6. Pilar García-Gómez & Hans van Kippersluis & Owen O’Donnell & Eddy van Doorslaer, 2013. "Long-Term and Spillover Effects of Health Shocks on Employment and Income," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 48(4), pages 873-909.
    7. Candon, David, 2018. "The effect of cancer on the labor supply of employed men over the age of 65," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 184-199.
    8. Benoît Rapoport & Catherine Sofer & Anne Solaz, 2011. "Household production in a collective model: some new results," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 24(1), pages 23-45, January.
    9. Cameron, Trudy Ann & DeShazo, J.R. & Johnson, Erica H., 2010. "The effect of children on adult demands for health-risk reductions," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 29(3), pages 364-376, May.
    10. Eleonora Matteazzi & Martina Menon & Federico Perali, 2017. "The Collective Farm-household Model: Policy and Welfare Simulations," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 39(1), pages 111-153.
    11. Patricia Apps & Ray Rees, 2022. "Inequality measurement and tax/transfer policy," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(4), pages 953-984, August.
    12. Cesar Martinelli & Susan W. Parker, 2003. "Do School Subsidies Promote Human Capital Accumulation among the Poor?," Working Papers 0306, Centro de Investigacion Economica, ITAM.
    13. Burton, Peter & Lethbridge, Lynn & Phipps, Shelley, 2008. "Children with disabilities and chronic conditions and longer-term parental health," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 1168-1186, June.
    14. Peter Burton & Lynn N. Lethbridge & Shelley Phipps, 2008. "Mothering Children with Disabilities and Chronic Conditions: Long-Term Implications for Self-Reported Health," Canadian Public Policy, University of Toronto Press, vol. 34(3), pages 359-378, September.
    15. Patricia Apps, 2003. "Gender, Time Use and Models of the Household," CEPR Discussion Papers 464, Centre for Economic Policy Research, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    16. Jones, Andrew M. & Rice, Nigel & Zantomio, Francesca, 2020. "Acute health shocks and labour market outcomes: Evidence from the post crash era," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 36(C).
    17. Cawley, John & Liu, Feng, 2012. "Maternal employment and childhood obesity: A search for mechanisms in time use data," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(4), pages 352-364.
    18. Francetic, Igor & Meacock, Rachel & Sutton, Matt, 2022. "Understanding Concordance in Health Behaviours among Couples: Evidence from the Bowel Cancer Screening Programme in England," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 201(C), pages 310-345.
    19. Jeon, Sung-Hee & Pohl, R. Vincent, 2017. "Health and work in the family: Evidence from spouses’ cancer diagnoses," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 52(C), pages 1-18.
    20. Antonella Caiumi & Federico Perali, 2015. "Who bears the full cost of children? Evidence from a collective demand system," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 49(1), pages 33-64, August.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:16:y:2019:i:21:p:4214-:d:281869. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.