Chapter 50 Health, health insurance and the labor market

The impact of Chernobyl on health and labour market performance

“…Health has long been considered to be an important determinant of labour market outcomes, such as wages, hours of work and employment, (see the references in Lleras-Muney (2005), Currie and Madrian (1999), Strauss and Thomas (1998), Kahn (1998) In what follows, we examine the relationship between exposure to radiation as a result of the Chernobyl accident and subsequent health and economic performance using longitudinal data on a sample of individuals emanating from the Ukraine. Since radiation fallout was rather randomly distributed across the Ukraine, given the prevailing wind patterns, we treat radiation exposure as an exogenous shock and first look to see whether there is any association between the level of radiation dosage in the local area of residence at the time of the disaster and a variety of self-reported health measures some seventeen years or more after the event.…”

“…Health has long been considered to be an important determinant of labour market outcomes, such as wages, hours of work and employment, (see the references in Lleras-Muney (2005), Currie and Madrian (1999), Strauss and Thomas (1998), Kahn (1998)). Much of the literature is concerned with the difficulty of establishing a causal link between health and performance.…”

“…Yet, while much has been written, and argued, about the medical and physical consequences of Chernobyl 1 , less attention has been given to the social and economic consequences of the disaster, despite recent urgings along this line from the United Nations, (UNDP 2002). Since there are now movements in many industrialised countries toward building a new generation of nuclear power facilities as one way to address the issue of climate change, knowledge of any long-term economic consequences of such rare, low frequency events as an accident in a nuclear power plant is important.Health has long been considered to be an important determinant of labour market outcomes, such as wages, hours of work and employment, (see the references in Lleras-Muney (2005), Currie and Madrian (1999), Strauss and Thomas (1998), Kahn (1998) In what follows, we examine the relationship between exposure to radiation as a result of the Chernobyl accident and subsequent health and economic performance using longitudinal data on a sample of individuals emanating from the Ukraine. Since radiation fallout was rather randomly distributed across the Ukraine, given the prevailing wind patterns, we treat radiation exposure as an exogenous shock and first look to see whether there is any association between the level of radiation dosage in the local area of residence at the time of the disaster and a variety of self-reported health measures some seventeen years or more after the event.…”

The lasting impact of childhood health and circumstance

“…Persistence in the processes generating earnings and health could lead to a contemporaneous correlation in earnings and health in adulthood that was due to conditions in childhood. Economists have contributed to this literature, examining the role played by health in education and labor market outcomes (see Currie and Madrian, 1999, for a review of the economics literature linking health to labor market outcomes, and Currie and Hyson, 1999, for an examination of the impact of low birthweight on educational attainment and labor market outcomes).…”

Long-Term and Spillover Effects of Health Shocks on Employment and Income

“…The effectiveness of these measures depends on the extent to which ill-health constrains the earnings capacity and employment opportunities of the 50+ population. Ill-health is frequently reported to be a leading cause of labor market withdrawal in middle-age (Bound et al 1999; Currie and Madrian 1999; Dwyer and Mitchell 1999; French 2005; Disney, Emmerson, and Wakefield 2006). However, the existing evidence base to gauge whether improved population health, or at least reduced disability, alongside improved financial incentives, could increase labor market participation is weak or incomplete in three important respects.…”