Job Loss: Eat, drink and try to be merry? / Partha Deb, William T. Gallo, Padmaja Ayyagari, Jason M. Fletcher, Jody L. Sindelar.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Deb, Partha.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Gallo, William T.

Ayyagari, Padmaja.

Fletcher, Jason M.

Sindelar, Jody L.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w15122.

NBER working paper series no. w15122

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Job Loss

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2009.

Summary:

This paper examines the impact of job loss from business closings on body mass index (BMI) and alcohol consumption. We improve upon extant literature by using: exogenously determined business closings, a sophisticated estimation approach (finite mixture models) to deal with complex heterogeneity, and national, longitudinal data (Health and Retirement Study). For both alcohol consumption and BMI, we find evidence that individuals who are more likely to respond to job loss by increasing unhealthy behaviors are already in the problematic range for these behaviors before losing their jobs. Thus health effects of job loss could be concentrated among "at risk" individuals.

Notes:

Print version record

July 2009.