Petter Lundborg
Professor
Income Receipt and Mortality – Evidence from Swedish Public Sector Employees
Author
Summary, in English
In this paper, we study the short-run effect of salary receipt on mortality among Swedish public sector employees. By using data on variation in paydays across work-places, we completely control for mortality patterns related to, for example, public holidays and other special days or events coinciding with paydays and for general within-month and within-week mortality patterns. We find a dramatic increase in mortality on the day salaries arrive. The increase is especially pronounced for younger workers and for deaths due to activity-related causes such as heart conditions and strokes. Additionally, the effect is entirely driven by an increase in mortality among low income individuals, who are more likely to experience liquidity constraints. All things considered, our results suggest that an increase in general economic activity on salary receipt is an important cause of the excess mortality.
Department/s
- Department of Economics
Publishing year
2014
Language
English
Publication/Series
Working Paper / Department of Economics, School of Economics and Management, Lund University
Issue
32
Links
Document type
Working paper
Publisher
Department of Economics, Lund University
Topic
- Economics
Keywords
- Income
- Mortality
- Health
- Consumption
- Liquidity constraints
- Permanent income hypothesis
Status
Published