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The Price of Pet Ownership: Reduced Labour Mobility?

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Abstract

Pets are an important part of many peoples’ lives. Studies of the mental, physical and emotional benefits of pet ownership have been extensively discussed in the literature. However, the costs of pet ownership have received less attention. We investigate whether pet ownership decreases the incomes of pet owners by reducing labour mobility. Answering this question may help people to better understand the full range of costs and benefits of pet ownership, as well as pointing to broader labour market efficiency issues. Using data from the 2018 General Social Survey, we investigate the relationship between income and pet ownership, controlling for a rich set of covariates. We include interactions between pet ownership and education, pet ownership and housing tenure, and pet ownership and race, to further investigate this relationship. Overall, we find initial support for our hypothesis that pet ownership decreases labour mobility, and consequently income. These negative effects are larger for highly educated workers, renters and African Americans.

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  • Robbie Maris & Michael P Cameron, 2022. "The Price of Pet Ownership: Reduced Labour Mobility?," Working Papers in Economics 22/03, University of Waikato.
    • Handle: RePEc:wai:econwp:22/03
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    File URL: https://repec.its.waikato.ac.nz/wai/econwp/2203.pdf
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • J39 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Other
    • J69 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Mobility, Unemployment, Vacancies, and Immigrant Workers - - - Other

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