IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/hlthec/v4y1995i5p399-410.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Controlling for mental health in earnings equations: What do we gain and what do we lose?

Author

Listed:
  • Elizabeth Savoca

Abstract

This paper examines the biases in estimating wage equations that may arise from measurement errors in various mental health indicators—two subjective proxies and one clinical assessment. The results suggest that a self‐reported measure based on whether the individual reported missing school or work for mental‐health‐related reasons leads to the smallest measurement error bias in the coefficients of the explanatory variables in an earnings equation. Two specific results lead to this conclusion. For one, the variance of the random component of its measurement error is the smallest among the three indicators leading to the least biased estimates of the impact of mental health on wages. Second, systematic reporting biases which vary with the non‐health regressors in a wage equation do not appear to exit in this measure. Consequently, this indicator follows the classical measurement error model. This implies that the coefficient estimates of the impact of non‐health variables are always improved, in the sense of having a smaller bias, when this mental health proxy is included in the regression. The measurement error in a self‐evaluation according to the scale of excellent, good, fair, or poor has the largest variance thus leading to a substantial understatement of the impact of mental health on earnings. This measure also contains significant reporting biases that vary with gender, race, and education—many of the non‐health regressors in a wage equation. The measurement error variance in the simulated diagnostic measure analyzed in this paper is also large. Thus this proxy will yield poor estimates of the impact of mental health on earnings.

Suggested Citation

  • Elizabeth Savoca, 1995. "Controlling for mental health in earnings equations: What do we gain and what do we lose?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 4(5), pages 399-410, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:hlthec:v:4:y:1995:i:5:p:399-410
    DOI: 10.1002/hec.4730040506
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/hec.4730040506
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/hec.4730040506?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Andrew M. Gill & Robert J. Michaels, 1992. "Does Drug Use Lower Wages?," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 45(3), pages 419-434, April.
    2. Charles A. Register & Donald R. Williams, 1992. "Labor Market Effects of Marijuana and Cocaine Use among Young Men," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 45(3), pages 435-448, April.
    3. Bartel, Ann & Taubman, Paul, 1979. "Health and Labor Market Success: The Role of Various Diseases," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 61(1), pages 1-8, February.
    4. Yatchew, Adonis & Griliches, Zvi, 1985. "Specification Error in Probit Models," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 67(1), pages 134-139, February.
    5. Haveman, Robert & Wolfe, Barbara & Kreider, Brent & Stone, Mark, 1994. "Market work, wages, and men's health," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 163-182, July.
    6. Sickles, Robin C & Taubman, Paul, 1986. "An Analysis of the Health and Retirement Status of the Elderly," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 54(6), pages 1339-1356, November.
    7. Robert Haveman & Barbara Wolfe & Fung Mey Huang, 1989. "Disability Status as an Unobservable: Estimates From a Structural Model," NBER Working Papers 2831, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. Goldberger, Arthur S, 1972. "Structural Equation Methods in the Social Sciences," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 40(6), pages 979-1001, November.
    9. Bartel, Ann & Taubman, Paul, 1986. "Some Economic and Demographic Consequences of Mental Illness," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 4(2), pages 243-256, April.
    10. Steven Stern, 1989. "Measuring the Effect of Disability on Labor Force Participation," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 24(3), pages 361-395.
    11. Haveman, Robert H & Wolfe, Barbara L, 1984. "The Decline in Male Labor Force Participation: Comment," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 92(3), pages 532-541, June.
    12. Kathryn H. Anderson & Richard V. Burkhauser, 1985. "The Retirement-Health Nexus: A New Measure of an Old Puzzle," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 20(3), pages 315-330.
    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. Vivian H. Hamilton & Philip Merrigan & Éric Dufresne, 1997. "Down and out: estimating the relationship between mental health and unemployment," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 6(4), pages 397-406, July.
    2. Partha Deb & Ann M. Holmes, 1998. "Substitution of physicians and other providers in outpatient mental health care," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 7(4), pages 347-361, June.
    3. Stephen Almond & Andrew Healey, 2003. "Mental Health and Absence from Work: New Evidence from the UK Quarterly Labour Force Survey," Work, Employment & Society, British Sociological Association, vol. 17(4), pages 731-742, December.

    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. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pc:p:3309-3416 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. Dwyer, Debra Sabatini & Mitchell, Olivia S., 1999. "Health problems as determinants of retirement: Are self-rated measures endogenous?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 173-193, April.
    3. Marcel Kerkhofs & Maarten Lindeboom, 1995. "Subjective health measures and state dependent reporting errors," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 4(3), pages 221-235, May.
    4. Veronesi, Marcella, 2007. "Environmental Risk Factors, Health and the Labor Market Response of Married Men and Women in the United States," Working Papers 98552, University of Maryland, Department of Agricultural and Resource Economics.
    5. Даниелян, Владимир, 2016. "Детерминанты Пенсионного Возраста: Обзор Исследований [Determinants of Retirement Age: A Review of Research]," MPRA Paper 73865, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Susan L. Ettner & Richard G. Frank & Ronald C. Kessler, 1997. "The Impact of Psychiatric Disorders on Labor Market Outcomes," NBER Working Papers 5989, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Kreider, Brent & Pepper, John V., 2007. "Disability and Employment: Reevaluating the Evidence in Light of Reporting Errors," Journal of the American Statistical Association, American Statistical Association, vol. 102, pages 432-441, June.
    8. Brent Kreider & John Pepper, 2008. "Inferring disability status from corrupt data," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 23(3), pages 329-349.
    9. Gimenez-Nadal, J. Ignacio & Molina, Jose Alberto, 2015. "Health status and the allocation of time: Cross-country evidence from Europe," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 46(C), pages 188-203.
    10. Ana Llena‐Nozal & Maarten Lindeboom & France Portrait, 2004. "The effect of work on mental health: does occupation matter?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 13(10), pages 1045-1062, October.
    11. Sarah Brown & Jennifer Roberts & Karl Taylor, 2010. "Reservation wages, labour market participation and health," Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series A, Royal Statistical Society, vol. 173(3), pages 501-529, July.
    12. David Madden & Ian Walker, 1999. "Labour Supply, Health and Caring - Evidence from the UK," Working Papers 199928, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    13. Ebaidalla Mahjoub Ebaidalla & Mohammed Elhaj Mustafa Ali, 2018. "Chronic Illness and Labor Market Participation in Arab Countries: Evidence from Egypt and Tunisia," Working Papers 1229, Economic Research Forum, revised 10 Oct 2018.
    14. Lixin Cai & Guyonne Kalb, 2004. "Health Status and Labour Force Participation: Evidence from the HILDA Data," Melbourne Institute Working Paper Series wp2004n04, Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, The University of Melbourne.
    15. Sergi Jiménez-Martín & José M. Labeaga & Cristina Vilaplana Prieto, 2006. "Award errors and permanent disability benefits in Spain," Economics Working Papers 966, Department of Economics and Business, Universitat Pompeu Fabra.
    16. Burkhauser, Richard V. & Butler, J. S. & Kim, Yang Woo, 1995. "The importance of employer accommodation on the job duration of workers with disabilities: A hazard model approach," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 2(2), pages 109-130, June.
    17. Thomas Grebel & Uwe Cantner & Julia Schumm, 2019. "Interdisciplinarity: who reaps the benefits?," Eurasian Business Review, Springer;Eurasia Business and Economics Society, vol. 9(1), pages 103-114, March.
    18. Stern, Steven, 1996. "Semiparametric estimates of the supply and demand effects of disability on labor force participation," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 71(1-2), pages 49-70.
    19. Lixin Cai & Guyonne Kalb, 2007. "Health status and labour force status of older working-age Australian men," Australian Journal of Labour Economics (AJLE), Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre (BCEC), Curtin Business School, vol. 10(4), pages 227-252.
    20. Pitt, Mark M. & Rosenzweig, Mark R., 1987. "Estimating the Intrafamily Incidence of Health: Child Illness and Gender Inequality in Indonesian Households," Bulletins 7501, University of Minnesota, Economic Development Center.
    21. Elena Bastida & José A. Pagán, 2002. "The impact of diabetes on adult employment and earnings of Mexican Americans: Findings from a community based study," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 11(5), pages 403-413, July.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    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:wly:hlthec:v:4:y:1995:i:5:p:399-410. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/cgi-bin/jhome/5749 .

    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.