Bounding the causal effect of unemployment on mental health: Nonparametric evidence from four countries
Abstract
Summary: 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 settings—Australia, Germany, the UK, and the United States—using 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.
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Prior research indicates positive changes in mental health are associated with employment-related improvements.
“This finding fits with prior research indicating that positive changes in mental health are associated with employment-related improvements (Cygan-Rehm et al., 2017).”
From Work-Related Cognitive Behavioral Therapy for racially and economically diverse unemployed persons with social anxiety: A randomized clinical trial (2024) · cites this paper as Cygan-Rehm et al., 2017
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Grand challenges in global mental health
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Breslau, J., Finucane, M. L., Locker, A. R., Baird, M. D., Roth, E. A., & Collins, R. L. (2021) · Preventive Medicine · doi:10.1016/j.ypmed.2020.106362 · Cited by 251 · see citing works
Himle, J. A., LeBeau, R. T., Jester, J. M., Kilbourne, A. M., Weaver, A., Brydon, D. M., Tucker, K. M., Hamameh, N., Castriotta, N., & Craske, M. G. (2024) · Journal of Anxiety Disorders · doi:10.1016/j.janxdis.2024.102875 · Cited by 4 · see citing works
- Authors
- Cygan‐Rehm, K., Kuehnle, D., & Oberfichtner, M.
- Affiliations
- Friedrich‐Alexander University Erlangen‐Nürnberg Nürnberg Germany
- ORCID
- Kuehnle, Daniel
- Venue
- Health Economics
- Publisher
- Wiley
- Published
- 2017-05-12
- Volume
- 26
- Issue
- 12
- Pages
- 1844-1861
- ISSN
- 1057-9230
- 1099-1050
- Cited by
- 99
- References
- 8
- Language
- en
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