健康对劳动力市场结果的影响：来自一项大规模健康实验的证据

中文摘要

尽管经济学家提出健康投资会提高劳动收入，但由于反向因果关系和不可观测的异质性，识别健康的因果效应颇具挑战。我们考察了一项随机对照试验——多重危险因素干预试验（MRFIT）——的劳动力市场效应。该试验对近13,000名男性进行了超过六年的跟踪监测。我们发现，这项通过提供一揽子治疗来降低冠心病死亡率的干预提高了劳动收入和家庭收入。我们发现，按基线健康状况和职业特征划分的群体之间，估计增益的差异很少。

Abstract

While economists have posited that health investments increase earnings, isolating the causal effect of health is challenging due 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. (JEL I12, J24, J31)