Abstract
Although there is a strong correlation between health and socioeconomic status (SES), the direction of causation is not empirically clear. This study a uses a two stage methodology to control for endogeneity. Using data from the U.S. Health and Retirement Study, the results show that after controlling for endogeneity, labor force status turns out to be an even more important factor in determining health than in the case where endogeneity is not controlled for. In particular, unemployment generates much higher odds for worse health as measured by both subjective and objective health measures.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 977-987 |
Number of pages | 11 |
Journal | Journal of Socio-Economics |
Volume | 38 |
Issue number | 6 |
Early online date | 6 Aug 2009 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 1 Dec 2009 |
Keywords
- socioeconomic status
- subjective and objective health measures
- endogeneity
- labor force studies