Unemployment and Health Behaviors Over the Business Cycle: a Longitudinal View /

We examine the first-order internal effects of unemployment on a range of health behaviors during the most recent recession using longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79). Consistent with prior studies based on cros...

Ausführliche Beschreibung

Gespeichert in:
Weitere Titel:
Unemployment and Health Behaviors Over the Business Cycle
1. Verfasser:
Colman, Gregory
Körperschaft:
National Bureau of Economic Research
Weitere Verfasser:
Dave, Dhaval
Format:
Elektronisch E-Book
Sprache:
Englisch
Veröffentlicht:
Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2014.
Zusammenfassung:
We examine the first-order internal effects of unemployment on a range of health behaviors during the most recent recession using longitudinal data from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (PSID) and the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79). Consistent with prior studies based on cross-sectional data, we find that becoming unemployed is associated with a small increase in leisure-time exercise and in body weight, a moderate decrease in smoking, and a substantial decline in total physical activity. We also find that unemployment is associated with a decline in purchases of fast food. Together, these results imply that both energy consumption and expenditure decline in the U.S. during recessions, the net result being a slight increase in body weight. There is generally considerable heterogeneity in these effects across specific health behaviors, across the intensive and extensive margins, across the outcome distribution, and across gender.
Umfang:
1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);
Anmerkungen:
December 2014.
Schlagworte: