Working Paper: NBER ID: w24231
Authors: Melvin Stephens Jr; Desmond J Toohey
Abstract: While economists have posited that health investments increase earnings, isolating the causal effect of health is challenging due both to reverse causality and unobserved heterogeneity. We examine the labor market effects of a randomized controlled trial, the Multiple Risk Factor Intervention Trial (MRFIT), which monitored nearly 13,000 men for over six years. We find that this intervention, which provided a bundle of treatments to reduce coronary heart disease mortality, increased earnings and family income. We find few differences in estimated gains by baseline health and occupation characteristics. Reductions in serious illnesses and work-limiting disabilities likely contributed to the observed gains.
Keywords: health; labor market outcomes; MRFIT; earnings; family income
JEL Codes: I12; J24
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Health intervention (I14) | Earnings (J31) |
| Health intervention (I14) | Family income (D31) |
| Health intervention (I14) | Reduction in serious illnesses (I14) |
| Health intervention (I14) | Lower levels of work-preventing disabilities (J28) |
| Reduction in serious illnesses (I14) | Earnings (J31) |
| Lower levels of work-preventing disabilities (J28) | Earnings (J31) |
| Health intervention (I14) | Time lost to illness (I12) |