TY  - JOUR
AU  - Black,Sandra E.
AU  - Devereux,Paul J.
AU  - Salvanes,Kjell G.
TI  - Losing Heart? The Effect of Job Displacement on Health
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 18660
PY  - 2012
Y2  - December 2012
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w18660
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/w18660.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Sandra Black
Department of Economics
University of Texas
Austin, TX  78712
Tel: 512-475-8519
E-Mail: sblack@austin.utexas.edu

Paul J. Devereux
School of Economics
and Geary Institute
University College Dublin
Belfield, Dublin 4
Ireland
E-Mail: devereux@ucd.ie

Kjell Salvanes
Department of Economics
Norwegian School of Economics
Hellev. 30, N-5035 Bergen
Norway
E-Mail: kjell.salvanes@nhh.no
AB  - Job reallocation is considered to be a key characteristic of well-functioning labor markets, as more productive firms grow and less productive ones contract or close.  However, despite its potential benefits for the economy, there are significant costs that are borne by displaced workers.  We study how job displacement in Norway affects cardiovascular health using a sample of men and women who are predominantly aged in their early forties. To do so we merge survey data on health and health behaviors with register data on person and firm characteristics. We track the health of displaced and non-displaced workers from 5 years before to 7 years after displacement.  We find that job displacement has a negative effect on the health of both men and women.  Importantly, much of this effect is driven by an increase in smoking behavior.  These results are robust to a variety of specification checks.
ER  -