IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/uwp/jhriss/v45y2010i4p809-839.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Impact of HIV/AIDS and ARV Treatment on Worker Absenteeism: Implications for African Firms

Author

Listed:
  • James Habyarimana
  • Bekezela Mbakile
  • Cristian Pop-Eleches

Abstract

We characterize medium and long-run labor market impacts of HIV/AIDS and ARV treatment using unique panel data of worker absenteeism and information from an AIDS treatment program at a large mining firm in Botswana. We present robust evidence of an inverse-V shaped pattern in worker absenteeism around the time of ARV treatment inception. Absenteeism one to four years after treatment start is low and similar to nonenrolled workers at the firm. Furthermore, our analysis suggests that for the typical manufacturing firm in Africa, the benefits of treatment to the firm cover 8–22 percent of the cost of treatment.

Suggested Citation

  • James Habyarimana & Bekezela Mbakile & Cristian Pop-Eleches, 2010. "The Impact of HIV/AIDS and ARV Treatment on Worker Absenteeism: Implications for African Firms," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 45(4), pages 809-839.
    • Handle: RePEc:uwp:jhriss:v:45:y:2010:i:4:p:809-839
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://jhr.uwpress.org/cgi/reprint/45/4/809
    Download Restriction: A subscripton is required to access pdf files. Pay per article is available.

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Ernst Fehr & Simon Gächter, 2000. "Fairness and Retaliation: The Economics of Reciprocity," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 14(3), pages 159-181, Summer.
    2. George A. Akerlof & Janet L. Yellen, 1990. "The Fair Wage-Effort Hypothesis and Unemployment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 105(2), pages 255-283.
    3. Nazmul Chaudhury & Jeffrey Hammer & Michael Kremer & Karthik Muralidharan & F. Halsey Rogers, 2006. "Missing in Action: Teacher and Health Worker Absence in Developing Countries," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(1), pages 91-116, Winter.
    4. Harsha Thirumurthy & Joshua Graff Zivin & Markus Goldstein, 2008. "The Economic Impact of AIDS Treatment: Labor Supply in Western Kenya," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 43(3), pages 511-552.
    5. David Canning, 2006. "The Economics of HIV/AIDS in Low-Income Countries: The Case for Prevention," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 20(3), pages 121-142, Summer.
    6. Duggan Mark G & Evans William N, 2008. "Estimating the Impact of Medical Innovation: A Case Study of HIV Antiretroviral Treatments," Forum for Health Economics & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 11(2), pages 1-39, January.
    7. John Fitzgerald & Peter Gottschalk & Robert Moffitt, 1998. "An Analysis of the Impact of Sample Attrition on the Second Generation of Respondents in the Michigan Panel Study of Income Dynamics," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 33(2), pages 300-344.
    8. Marianne Bertrand & Esther Duflo & Sendhil Mullainathan, 2004. "How Much Should We Trust Differences-In-Differences Estimates?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, Oxford University Press, vol. 119(1), pages 249-275.
    9. Zivin, Joshua Graff & Thirumurthy, Harsha & Goldstein, Markus, 2009. "AIDS treatment and intrahousehold resource allocation: Children's nutrition and schooling in Kenya," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 93(7-8), pages 1008-1015, August.
    10. Hellerstein, Judith K & Neumark, David & Troske, Kenneth R, 1999. "Wages, Productivity, and Worker Characteristics: Evidence from Plant-Level Production Functions and Wage Equations," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 17(3), pages 409-446, July.
    11. Lorne Carmichael, 1983. "Firm-Specific Human Capital and Promotion Ladders," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 14(1), pages 251-258, Spring.
    12. Lazear, Edward P, 1979. "Why Is There Mandatory Retirement?," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 87(6), pages 1261-1284, December.
    13. Frank R. Lichtenberg, 2006. "The Impact of Increased Utilization of HIV Drugs on Longevity and Medical Expenditures: An Assessment Based on Aggregate U.S. Time-Series Data," NBER Working Papers 12406, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    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. Johanna Catherine Maclean & Keshar M. Ghimire & Lauren Hersch Nicholas, 2017. "Marijuana legalization and disability claiming," NBER Working Papers 23862, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Tompsett, Anna, 2020. "The Lazarus drug: the impact of antiretroviral therapy on economic growth," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 143(C).
    3. Declan French & Jonathan Brink & Till Bärnighausen, 2019. "Early HIV treatment and labour outcomes: A case study of mining workers in South Africa," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 28(2), pages 204-218, February.
    4. Lucas, Adrienne M. & Chidothe, Margaret & Wilson, Nicholas L., 2019. "Effects of adult health interventions at scale on children’s schooling: Evidence from antiretroviral therapy in Zambia," Economics of Education Review, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 107-120.
    5. Tirivayi, Nyasha & Groot, Wim, 2018. "Does integrating AIDS treatment with food assistance affect labor supply? Evidence from Zambia," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 79-91.
    6. Malcolm Keswell & Justine Burns & Rebecca Thornton, 2012. "Evaluating the Impact of Health Programmes on Productivity," African Development Review, African Development Bank, vol. 24(4), pages 302-315, December.
    7. James Levinsohn & Zoë M. McLaren & Olive Shisana & Khangelani Zuma, 2013. "HIV Status and Labor Market Participation in South Africa," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 95(1), pages 98-108, March.
    8. Chicoine, Luke, 2012. "AIDS mortality and its effect on the labor market: Evidence from South Africa," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(2), pages 256-269.
    9. Ahmed, Shahira & Autrey, Jessica & Katz, Ingrid T. & Fox, Matthew P. & Rosen, Sydney & Onoya, Dorina & Bärnighausen, Till & Mayer, Kenneth H. & Bor, Jacob, 2018. "Why do people living with HIV not initiate treatment? A systematic review of qualitative evidence from low- and middle-income countries," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 213(C), pages 72-84.
    10. Marinescu, Ioana, 2014. "HIV, wages, and the skill premium," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 37(C), pages 181-197.
    11. Arimoto, Yutaka & Ito, Seiro & Kudo, Yuya & Tsukada, Kazunari, 2013. "Stigma, Social Relationship and HIV Testing in the Workplace: Evidence from South Africa," CEI Working Paper Series 2012-06, Center for Economic Institutions, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University.
    12. Rodolfo Manuelli & Emircan Yurdagul, . "AIDS, Human Capital and Development," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics.
    13. Rodolfo Manuelli & Emircan Yurdagul, . "AIDS, Human Capital and Development," Review of Economic Dynamics, Elsevier for the Society for Economic Dynamics.
    14. Johanna Catherine Maclean & Lauren Hersch Nicholas & Keshar M. Ghimire, 2017. "The Impact of State Medical Marijuana Laws on Social Security Disability Insurance and Workers' Compensation Benefit Claiming," Working Papers id:12111, eSocialSciences.
    15. Patenaude, Bryan N. & Chimbindi, Natsayi & Pillay, Deenan & Bärnighausen, Till, 2018. "The impact of ART initiation on household food security over time," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 198(C), pages 175-184.

    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:uwp:jhriss:v:45:y:2010:i:4:p:809-839. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: (). General contact details of provider: http://jhr.uwpress.org/ .

    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 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.

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

    IDEAS is a RePEc service hosted by the Research Division of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis . RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.