RT Journal Article
SR Electronic
T1 Labor Supply Responses to Health Shocks
JF Journal of Human Resources
JO J Hum Resour
FD University of Wisconsin Press
SP 143
OP 177
DO 10.3368/jhr.57.1.0618-9584R2
VO 57
IS 1
A1 Rachel Heath
A1 Ghazala Mansuri
A1 Bob Rijkers
YR 2022
UL http://jhr.uwpress.org/content/57/1/143.abstract
AB Workers in developing countries are subject to frequent health shocks. Using ten weeks of high-frequency labor market data that were collected in urban Ghana, we document that men are nine percentage points more likely to work in weeks in which another worker in the household is unexpectedly ill. The paper provides suggestive evidence that these effects are strongest among very risk-averse men, men in poorer households, and men who are the highest earners in their household. By contrast, women display a net zero response to another worker’s illness, even women who are the highest earners in their household.