Bounding the causal effect of unemployment on mental health: Nonparametric evidence from four countries
Bounding the causal effect of unemployment on mental health: Nonparametric evidence from four countries
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DOI：
10.1002/hec.3510
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发表时间：
2017-12-01
期刊：
影响因子：
2.1
通讯作者：
Oberfichtner, Michael
中科院分区：
文献类型：
--
作者：
Cygan-Rehm, Kamila;Kuehnle, Daniel;Oberfichtner, Michael
公共卫生政策中一个重要但尚未解决的问题是失业对心理健康的因果影响程度。最近的文献得出了不同的结果，这可能是由于数据，方法，样本和机构设置的差异。采取更一般的方法，我们提供了四个国家的可比证据与不同的制度设置澳大利亚，德国，英国和美国使用非参数边界分析。我们的论文依靠相当弱和部分可检验的假设，表明失业对所有国家的心理健康都有显著的负面影响。我们的结果排除了大于德国四分之一标准差和盎格鲁-撒克逊国家半个标准差的影响。这种影响对男女都很大，而且在短期失业中已经显现出来。因此，公共政策应侧重于失业者心理健康问题的早期预防。
An important, yet unsettled, question in public health policy is the extent to which unemployment causally impacts mental health. The recent literature yields varying findings, which are likely due to differences in data, methods, samples, and institutional settings. Taking a more general approach, we provide comparable evidence for four countries with different institutional settingsAustralia, Germany, the UK, and the United Statesusing a nonparametric bounds analysis. Relying on fairly weak and partially testable assumptions, our paper shows that unemployment has a significant negative effect on mental health in all countries. Our results rule out effects larger than a quarter of a standard deviation for Germany and half a standard deviation for the Anglo-Saxon countries. The effect is significant for both men and women and materialises already for short periods of unemployment. Public policy should hence focus on early prevention of mental health problems among the unemployed.