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Health, wealth, and informality over the life cycle

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  • Albertini, Julien
  • Fairise, Xavier
  • Terriau, Anthony

Abstract

What is the impact of bad health on labor market trajectories, consumption, and wealth accumulation in a developing country characterized by a large informal sector and strong inequalities? We develop and estimate a heterogeneous agents model with two sectors to quantify the impact of health shocks and to disentangle the channels through which they affect wealth and consumption over the life cycle in South Africa. We show that the effects of health shocks are significant and strongly depend on the job status of individuals. For formal workers, bad health reduces labor efficiency, which translates into lower earnings. For informal workers and the non-employed, the shock lowers the job finding rate and increases job separation into non-employment, which results in a surge in non-employment spells. As the non-employed are more likely to be unhealthy, health shocks generate a vicious circle.

Suggested Citation

  • Albertini, Julien & Fairise, Xavier & Terriau, Anthony, 2021. "Health, wealth, and informality over the life cycle," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 129(C).
  • Handle: RePEc:eee:dyncon:v:129:y:2021:i:c:s0165188921001056
    DOI: 10.1016/j.jedc.2021.104170
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    Cited by:

    1. Julien Albertini & Xavier Fairise & Arthur Poirier & Anthony Terriau, 2022. "Short-Time Work Policies During the Covid-19 Pandemic," Annals of Economics and Statistics, GENES, issue 146, pages 123-172.
    2. Richiardi, Matteo & Bronka, Patryk & van de Ven, Justin, 2022. "Dynamic simulation of taxes and welfare benefits by database imputation," Centre for Microsimulation and Policy Analysis Working Paper Series CEMPA3/22, Centre for Microsimulation and Policy Analysis at the Institute for Social and Economic Research.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Health; Wealth; Life cycle; Informality;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • E26 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Informal Economy; Underground Economy
    • O17 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Formal and Informal Sectors; Shadow Economy; Institutional Arrangements
    • J46 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Particular Labor Markets - - - Informal Labor Market
    • J64 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Unemployment: Models, Duration, Incidence, and Job Search

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