The Relation Between Health and Earnings in Self-Employment

Frontiers in Psychology
Jolanda HesselsPeter van der Zwan

Abstract

Multiple studies have shown that, on average, the self-employed are healthier than wage workers. The link between the health of self-employed individuals and their financial performance in terms of earnings is, however, less understood. Based on human capital theory, we expect a positive link between health and earnings among the self-employed. For two reasons we expect the relationship between health and earnings to be stronger for the self-employed than for wage workers. First, the self-employed can more easily adapt their production activities such that they yield the highest returns to their human capital, including their health. Second, in the short term, the earnings of the self-employed are more dependent on the ability to work than the wages of wage workers. Our empirical analysis draws on data from the Household, Income and Labor Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) survey, a longitudinal dataset (2001-2017). Our outcome variable is an individual's total income derived from wage work and/or running a business. Health is measured using multi-item constructs for General health, Physical health, and Mental health from the Short Form Health Survey (SF-36). We distinguish between wage workers and self-employed individuals with and...Continue Reading

References

Dec 21, 2010·Journal of Health Economics·Pilar García-Gómez
Jul 23, 2014·Health Economics·Cornelius A RietveldA Roy Thurik
Jan 23, 2016·Economics and Human Biology·Cornelius A RietveldPeter van der Zwan
Jun 8, 2018·The European Journal of Health Economics : HEPAC : Health Economics in Prevention and Care·Otto Lenhart

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