Analyzing data on 2,225 men and 2,401 women from the National Comorbidity Survey, the authors examine the impact of psychiatric disorders on employment and, among those employed, work hours and income. They find that psychiatric disorders significantly reduced employment among both men and women. They also find evidence of small reductions in the conditional work hours of men and a substantial drop in the conditional income of men and women, although these findings are somewhat sensitive to the estimation methods and specification of the model.
Get full access to this article
View all access options for this article.
References
1.
American Psychiatric Association. 1994. Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, 4th ed., Rev'd. Washington, D.C.: American Psychiatric Association.
2.
AngristJ. D.ImbensG. W., and RubinD. B.. Forthcoming. “Identification of Causal Effects Using Instrumental Variables.”Journal of the American Statistical Association.
3.
BartelAnn, and TaubmanPaul. 1979. “Health and Labor Market Success: The Role of Various Diseases.”Review of Economics and Statistics, Vol. 61, No. 1, pp. 1–8.
4.
BartelAnn, and TaubmanPaul1986. “Some Economic and Demographic Consequences of Mental Illness.”Journal of Labor Economics, Vol. 4, No. 2, pp. 243–56.
5.
BenhamLee, and BenhamAlexandra. 1982. “Employment, Earnings, and Psychiatric Diagnosis.” In FuchsVictor, ed., Economic Aspects of Health. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, pp. 203–20.
6.
BergerM. C., and LeighJ. P.. 1988. “The Effect of Alcohol Use on Wages.”Applied Economics, Vol. 20, pp. 1343–51.
7.
BerndtErnstFinkelsteinStanGreenbergPaulKeithAllisonRussellJames, and KellerMartin. 1996. “Workplace Performance and the Treatment of Chronic Depression.” Paper presented at the 1996 American Economic Association meetings.
8.
BjoerklandAnders. 1985. “Unemployment and Mental Health: Some Evidence from Panel Data.”Journal of Human Resources, Vol. 20, No. 4, pp. 469–83.
9.
BroadheadW. E.BlazerD. G.GeorgeL. K., and KitTse C.. 1990. “Depression, Disability Days, and Days Lost from Work in a Prospective Epidemiologic Survey.”Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 264, No. 19, pp. 2524–28.
10.
BryantR. R.SamaranayakeV. A., and WilhiteA.. 1992. “Alcohol Use and Wages of Young Men: Whites Versus Nonwhites.”International Review of Applied Economics, Vol. 6, No. 2, pp. 184–202.
11.
ChirikosThomas N., and NestelGilbert. 1984. “Economic Determinants and Consequences of Self-Reported Work Disability.”Journal of Health Economics, Vol. 3, No. 2, pp. 117–36.
12.
EttnerS. L.1996. “Is Working Good for You? Evidence on the Endogeneity of Mental and Physical Health to Female Employment.” Manuscript, Harvard University, July.
13.
EzzyD.1993. “Unemployment and Mental Health: A Critical Review.”Social Science and Medicine, Vol. 37, No. 1, pp. 41–52.
14.
FrankR. G., and GertlerP.. 1991. “An Assessment of Measurement Error Bias for Estimating the Effect of Mental Distress on Income.”Journal of Human Resources, Vol. 26, No. 1, pp. 154–64.
15.
GillAndrew M., and MichaelsRobert J.. 1992. “Does Drug Use Lower Wages?”Industrial and Labor Relations Review, Vol. 45, No. 3, pp. 419–34.
16.
GoldbergerA.1983. “Abnormal Selection Bias.” In KarlinS.AmemiyaT., and GoodmanL., eds., Studies in Econometrics, Time Series, and Multivariate Statistics. Stamford, Conn.: Academic Press.
17.
GrossmanMichael. 1972. “On the Concept of Health Capital and the Demand for Health.”Journal of Political Economy, Vol. 2, pp. 223–55.
18.
HamiltonV., and HamiltonB. H.. 1994. “Alcohol and Earnings: Is Drinking Good for You?” Unpublished manuscript, McGill University.
19.
HeckmanJames. 1979. “Dummy Endogenous Variables in a Simultaneous Equation System.”Econometrica, Vol. 47, No. 4, pp. 153–67.
20.
HeienD. M., and PittmanD. J.. 1989. “The Economic Costs of Alcohol Abuse: An Assessment of Current Methods and Estimates.”Journal of Studies in Alcohol, Vol. 50, No. 6, pp. 567–79.
21.
HibbardJ. H., and PopeC. R.. 1985. “Employment Status, Employment Characteristics, and Women's Health.”Women and Health, Vol. 10, No. 1, pp. 59–77.
22.
KendlerK. S.WaltersE. E.NealeM. C.KesslerR. C.HeathA. C., and EavesL. J.. 1995. “The Structure of the Genetic and Environmental Risk Factors for Six Major Psychiatric Disorders in Women: Phobia, Generalized Anxiety Disorder, Panic Disorder, Bulimia, Major Depression, and Alcoholism.”Archives of General Psychiatry, Vol. 52, No. 5, pp. 374–83.
23.
KenkelDonald S., and RibarDavid C.. 1994. “Alcohol Consumption and Young Adults' Socioeconomic Status.” Brookings Papers in Microeconomics.
24.
KesslerRonald C., and ForthoferMelinda S.. “The Effects of Psychiatric Disorders on Family Formation and Stability.” Forthcoming in Brooks-GunnJeanne and CoxMartha, eds., Family Risk and Resilience: The Roles of Conflict and Cohesion. New York: Cambridge University Press.
25.
KesslerRonald C., and FrankRichard G.. Forthcoming. “The Impact of Psychiatric Disorders on Work Loss Days.”Psychological Medicine.
26.
KesslerRonaldLittleRoderick J. A., and GrovesRobert M.. 1995. “Advances in Strategies for Minimizing and Adjusting for Survey Nonresponse.”Epidemiologic Reviews, Vol. 17, No. 1, pp. 192–204.
27.
KesslerRonaldMcGonagleK.ZhaoShanyangNelsonChristopherHughesMichaelEshlemanSuzannWittchenHans-Ulrich, and KendlerKenneth. 1994. “Lifetime and 12-Month Prevalence of DSM-III-R Psychiatric Disorders in the United States.”Archives of General Psychiatry, Vol. 51No. 1, pp. 8–19.
28.
KillingsworthM. R.1983. Labor Supply. Cambridge Surveys of Economic Literature. New York: Cambridge University Press.
29.
KouzisA. C., and EatonW. W.. 1994. “Emotional Disability Days: Prevalence and Predictors.”American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 84, No. 8, pp. 1304–7.
30.
LaveJudith R.FrankRichard G.SchulbergH. C., and KamletMark. 1996. “Cost-Effectiveness of Treatments for Depression for Primary Care Patients.” Unpublished manuscript, University of Pittsburgh.
31.
LeeLung-Fei. 1982. “Health and Wage: A Simultaneous Equations Model with Multiple Discrete Indicators.”International Economic Review, Vol. 23, pp. 192–222.
32.
MaddalaG. S.1983. “Limited-Dependent and Qualitative Variables in Econometrics.” Econometric Society Monographs No. 3. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
33.
MallarCharles. 1977. “The Estimation of Simultaneous Probability Models.”Econometrica, Vol. 45, No. 7, pp. 1717–22.
34.
ManningW. G.DuanN., and RogersW. H.. 1987. “Monte Carlo Evidence on the Choice Between Sample Selection and Two-Part Models.”Journal of Econometrics, Vol. 35, No. 1, pp. 59–82.
35.
MillerLeonard S., and KelmanSander. 1992. “Estimates of the Loss of Individual Productivity from Alcohol and Drug Abuse and from Mental Illness.” In FrankRichard G. and ManningWillard G.Jr., eds., Economics and Mental Health. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, pp. 91–129.
36.
MitchellJean M., and AndersonKathryn H.. 1989. “Mental Health and the Labor Force Participation of Older Workers.”Inquiry, Vol. 26, No. 2, pp. 262–71.
37.
MullahyJohn, and SindelarJody. 1990. “Gender Differences in the Effects of Mental Health on Labor Force Participation.” In SirageldinIsmaelSarkinAlan, and FrankRichard, eds., Research in Human Capital and Development. Greenwich, Conn.: JAI Press, pp. 125–45.
38.
National Advisory Mental Health Council. 1993. “Health Care Reform for Americans with Severe Mental Illness.”American Journal of Psychiatry, Vol. 150, No. 10, pp. 1447–65.
39.
National Health Policy Forum. 1995. “Welfare Policy at a Crossroads: Ending Entitlements, Creating Block Grants.” Issue Brief No. 667. George Washington University.
40.
Office of the Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 1994. “Patterns of Substance Use and Substance-Related Impairment Among Participants in the Aid to Families with Dependent Children Program (AFDC).” Report, December.
41.
RosenfieldS.1989. “The Effects of Women's Employment: Personal Control and Sex Differences in Mental Health.”Journal of Health and Social Behavior, Vol. 30, No. 1, pp. 77–91.
42.
RuhmChristopher J.1992. “The Effects of Physical and Mental Health on Female Labor Supply.” In FrankRichard G. and ManningWillard G.Jr., eds., Economics and Mental Health. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.
43.
SternS.1990. “Measuring the Effect of Disability on Labor Force Participation.”Journal of Human Resources, Vol. 24, No. 3, pp. 361–95.
44.
TsuangM. T., and VanderMeyR.. 1980. Genes and the Mind: Inheritance of Mental Illness. New York: Oxford University Press.
45.
WaldronI.1980. “Employment and Women's Health: An Analysis of Causal Relationships.”International Journal of Health Services, Vol. 10, No. 3, pp. 435–54.
46.
WeisnerConstance, and SchmidtLaura. 1993. “Alcohol and Drug Problems Among Diverse Health and Social Service Populations.”American Journal of Public Health, Vol. 83, No. 6, pp. 824–29.
47.
WellsKenneth B.StewartAnitaHaysRon D.BurnamAudreyRogersWilliamDanielsMarciaBerrySandraGreenfieldSheldon, and WareJohn. 1989. “The Functioning and Well-Being of Depressed Patients: Results from the Medical Outcomes Study.”Journal of the American Medical Association, Vol. 262, No. 7, pp. 914–19.