IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/soecon/v75y2008i2p383-409.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The Effects of Depressive Symptoms on Earnings

Author

Listed:
  • Attila Cseh

Abstract

Conventional wisdom is that depression lowers productivity. The magnitude of this effect has been of interest to economists and other social scientists as well as medical researchers. In this paper, I take advantage of the longitudinal nature of the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 to investigate the effects from a dynamic perspective and to control for unobserved heterogeneity in a fixed‐effects framework. Exploiting the fact that the data set provides information about depressive symptoms in multiple years, I am able to study how changes in depressive symptoms impact productivity. My results indicate that taking personality into account is important in estimating how depression affects wages. While ordinary least‐squares results render a strong negative significant effect to depressive symptom measures (especially in the men's sample), taking unobserved personal characteristics into account reduces the effects of these measures.

Suggested Citation

  • Attila Cseh, 2008. "The Effects of Depressive Symptoms on Earnings," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 75(2), pages 383-409, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:soecon:v:75:y:2008:i:2:p:383-409
    DOI: 10.1002/j.2325-8012.2008.tb00910.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2325-8012.2008.tb00910.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1002/j.2325-8012.2008.tb00910.x?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. Cornwell, Christopher & Rupert, Peter, 1997. "Unobservable Individual Effects, Marriage and the Earnings of Young Men," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(2), pages 285-294, April.
    2. Jeremy W. Bray, 2005. "Alcohol Use, Human Capital, and Wages," Journal of Labor Economics, University of Chicago Press, vol. 23(2), pages 279-312, April.
    3. Clark, Andrew E & Georgellis, Yannis & Sanfey, Peter, 2001. "Scarring: The Psychological Impact of Past Unemployment," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 68(270), pages 221-241, May.
    4. V. Joseph Hotz & Susan Williams McElroy & Seth G. Sanders, 2005. "Teenage Childbearing and Its Life Cycle Consequences: Exploiting a Natural Experiment," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 40(3).
    5. Griliches, Zvi & Hausman, Jerry A., 1986. "Errors in variables in panel data," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 31(1), pages 93-118, February.
    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. 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.
    8. Marcotte, Dave E. & Wilcox-Gök, Virginia, 2001. "Estimating the employment and earnings costs of mental illness: recent developments in the United States," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 53(1), pages 21-27, July.
    9. Mundlak, Yair, 1978. "On the Pooling of Time Series and Cross Section Data," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 46(1), pages 69-85, January.
    10. Andrew Clark & Yannis Georgellis & Peter Sanfey, 2001. "Scarring: The Psychological Impact of Past Unemployment," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 68(270), pages 221-241, May.
    11. Goldsmith, Arthur H & Veum, Jonathan R & Darity, William, Jr, 1997. "The Impact of Psychological and Human Capital on Wages," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 35(4), pages 815-829, October.
    12. 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.
    13. Richard Frank & Paul Gertler, 1991. "An Assessment of Measurement Error Bias for Estimating the Effect of Mental Distress on Income," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 26(1), pages 154-164.
    14. Berndt, Ernst R. & Finkelstein, Stan N. & Greenberg, Paul E. & Howland, Robert H. & Keith, Alison & Rush, A. John & Russell, James & Keller, Martin B., 1998. "Workplace performance effects from chronic depression and its treatment," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 17(5), pages 511-535, October.
    15. Phillip B. Levine & Tara A. Gustafson & Ann D. Velenchik, 1997. "More Bad News for Smokers? The Effects of Cigarette Smoking on Wages," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 50(3), pages 493-509, April.
    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. Dolado, Juan J & Guerra, Airam, 2021. "Uncovering the Roots of Obesity-based Wage Discrimination: The Role of Job Characteristics," CEPR Discussion Papers 16785, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    2. Germinario, Giuseppe & Amin, Vikesh & Flores, Carlos A. & Flores-Lagunes, Alfonso, 2022. "What can we learn about the effect of mental health on labor market outcomes under weak assumptions? Evidence from the NLSY79," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    3. Shen, Zheng & Fang, Xiangming & Zheng, Xiaodong, 2022. "The impact of women's off-farm employment on depressive symptoms: Evidence from rural China," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    4. Mark L Bryan & Nigel Rice & Jennifer Roberts & Cristina Sechel, 2022. "Mental Health and Employment: A Bounding Approach Using Panel Data," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 84(5), pages 1018-1051, October.
    5. Vicki L. Bogan & Angela R. Fertig & David R. Just, 2022. "Self-employment and mental health," Review of Economics of the Household, Springer, vol. 20(3), pages 855-886, September.

    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. Germinario, Giuseppe & Amin, Vikesh & Flores, Carlos A. & Flores-Lagunes, Alfonso, 2022. "What can we learn about the effect of mental health on labor market outcomes under weak assumptions? Evidence from the NLSY79," Labour Economics, Elsevier, vol. 79(C).
    2. Susan L. Ettner & Johanna Catherine Maclean & Michael T. French, 2011. "Does Having a Dysfunctional Personality Hurt Your Career? Axis II Personality Disorders and Labor Market Outcomes," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 50(1), pages 149-173, January.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Bardasi, Elena & Francesconi, Marco, 2004. "The impact of atypical employment on individual wellbeing: evidence from a panel of British workers," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 58(9), pages 1671-1688, May.
    6. Mark L Bryan & Nigel Rice & Jennifer Roberts & Cristina Sechel, 2022. "Mental Health and Employment: A Bounding Approach Using Panel Data," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 84(5), pages 1018-1051, October.
    7. Pinka Chatterji & Margarita Alegría & Mingshan Lu & David Takeuchi, 2007. "Psychiatric disorders and labor market outcomes: evidence from the National Latino and Asian American Study," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(10), pages 1069-1090.
    8. Victoria D. Ojeda & Richard G. Frank & Thomas G. McGuire & Todd P. Gilmer, 2010. "Mental illness, nativity, gender and labor supply," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 19(4), pages 396-421, April.
    9. Erdal Tekin & Sara Markowitz, 2008. "The Relationship between Suicidal Behavior and Productive Activities of Young Adults," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 75(2), pages 300-331, August.
    10. Pinka Chatterji & Margarita Alegría & Mingshan Lu & David Takeuchi, 2007. "Psychiatric disorders and labor market outcomes: evidence from the National Latino and Asian American Study," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(10), pages 1069-1090, October.
    11. repec:eee:labchp:v:3:y:1999:i:pc:p:3309-3416 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Souvik Banerjee & Pinka Chatterji & Kajal Lahiri, 2017. "Effects of Psychiatric Disorders on Labor Market Outcomes: A Latent Variable Approach Using Multiple Clinical Indicators," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 26(2), pages 184-205, February.
    13. Anna Baranowska-Rataj & Anna Matysiak, 2016. "The Causal Effects of the Number of Children on Female Employment - Do European Institutional and Gender Conditions Matter?," Journal of Labor Research, Springer, vol. 37(3), pages 343-367, September.
    14. 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.
    15. Mousteri, Victoria & Daly, Michael & Delaney, Liam & Tynelius, Per & Rasmussen, Finn, 2019. "Adolescent mental health and unemployment over the lifespan: Population evidence from Sweden," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 222(C), pages 305-314.
    16. Mathias Sinning & Shane Worner, 2010. "Inter-ethnic Marriage and Partner Satisfaction," Ruhr Economic Papers 0221, Rheinisch-Westfälisches Institut für Wirtschaftsforschung, Ruhr-Universität Bochum, Universität Dortmund, Universität Duisburg-Essen.
    17. Bonsang, E. & Klein, T.J., 2012. "Retirement and subjective well-being," Other publications TiSEM f7d1a3d3-eb51-42d0-a3da-0, Tilburg University, School of Economics and Management.
    18. Xin Meng & Sen Xue, 2020. "Social networks and mental health outcomes: Chinese rural–urban migrant experience," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 33(1), pages 155-195, January.
    19. 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.
    20. Bardasi, Elena & Francesconi, Marco, 2000. "The Effect of Non-Standard Employment on Mental Health in Britain," IZA Discussion Papers 232, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    21. Fırat Yaman & Patricia Cubí-Mollá & Sergiu Ungureanu, 2023. "Which Decision Theory Describes Life Satisfaction Best? Evidence from Annual Panel Data," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 24(3), pages 893-916, March.

    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:soecon:v:75:y:2008:i:2:p:383-409. 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: https://doi.org/10.1002/(ISSN)2325-8012 .

    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.