@article{1265e433cfc348e88201b73a7ec6e45f,
title = "Use it too much and lose everything? The effects of hours of work on health",
abstract = "In this paper, we extend the {\textquoteleft}use it or lose it{\textquoteright} hypothesis to analyse whether the negative effects of working hours eventually dominate the positive effects of work as the hours of work increase. Using panel data from the HILDA survey, we estimate the optimal hours of work for the health status of middle age and elderly workers. We deal with the potential endogeneity of working hours by using the instrumental variable estimation technique with instruments based on the age for pension eligibility. For males working relatively moderate hours (up to around 24–27 h a week), an increase in working hours has a positive impact on their health outcomes, but thereafter an increase in working hours has a negative impact on health outcomes. When weekly working hours exceed 50 h, an individual's health status is worse off than when he is not working at all.",
keywords = "Endogeneity, Health, Pensions, Retirement, Working hours",
author = "Shinya Kajitani and Colin McKenzie and Kei Sakata",
note = "Funding Information: The authors would like to thank three anonymous referees for their extremely helpful and constructive comments on an earlier version of the paper. The authors would also like to thank Daiji Kawaguchi and participants at the following workshops and conferences, the Ageing and Longevity in the UK and Japan: Perspectives from the Health and Social Sciences Workshop, the Globalization and the Building of a High Quality Economic System Conference, the 10th International Conference of the Thailand Econometric Society 2017, the 22nd Euroasia and Business and Economics Society Conference, the 2019 Gerontological Society of America Annual Scientific Meeting, and the Spring Conference of the Japanese Economic Association for their helpful and constructive comments on earlier versions of this paper. This paper uses unit record data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. The HILDA Project was initiated and is funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services (DSS) and is managed by the Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic and Social Research, the University of Melbourne (the Melbourne Institute). The findings and views reported in this paper, however, are those of the authors and should not be attributed to DSS, the Melbourne Institute, or the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The authors wish to acknowledge that this research was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Grant in Aid for Scientific Research (B) No. JP24330093 for a project on “Retirement Behaviour of the Aged and their Cognitive Ability and Health” (P.I.: Kei Sakata), a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Grant in Aid for Scientific Research (B) No. 16H03607 for a project “An Empirical Analysis of Parental Employment Status, Time Allocation and Way of Thinking, and their Children's Human Capital Formation” (Project Leader: Midori Wakabayashi), a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Grant in Aid for Scientific Research (B) No. 21H00725 for a project on “Time Allocation, Intra-Household Productive Activities and Health Capital Formation” (P.I.: Shinya Kajitani), and Kyoto Sangyo University Research Grant No. E1901 (P.I.: Shinya Kajitani). Funding Information: This research was supported financially by three grants from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (Grants in Aid for Scientific Research (B) No. JP24330093 , No. 16H03607 and 21H00725 ) and a grant from Kyoto Sangyo University (Grant No. E1901 ). Funding Information: This research was supported financially by three grants from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) (Grants in Aid for Scientific Research (B) No. JP24330093, No. 16H03607 and 21H00725) and a grant from Kyoto Sangyo University (Grant No. E1901).The authors would like to thank three anonymous referees for their extremely helpful and constructive comments on an earlier version of the paper. The authors would also like to thank Daiji Kawaguchi and participants at the following workshops and conferences, the Ageing and Longevity in the UK and Japan: Perspectives from the Health and Social Sciences Workshop, the Globalization and the Building of a High Quality Economic System Conference, the 10th International Conference of the Thailand Econometric Society 2017, the 22nd Euroasia and Business and Economics Society Conference, the 2019 Gerontological Society of America Annual Scientific Meeting, and the Spring Conference of the Japanese Economic Association for their helpful and constructive comments on earlier versions of this paper. This paper uses unit record data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) Survey. The HILDA Project was initiated and is funded by the Australian Government Department of Social Services (DSS) and is managed by the Melbourne Institute: Applied Economic and Social Research, the University of Melbourne (the Melbourne Institute). The findings and views reported in this paper, however, are those of the authors and should not be attributed to DSS, the Melbourne Institute, or the Australian Institute of Family Studies. The authors wish to acknowledge that this research was supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Grant in Aid for Scientific Research (B) No. JP24330093 for a project on “Retirement Behaviour of the Aged and their Cognitive Ability and Health” (P.I.: Kei Sakata), a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Grant in Aid for Scientific Research (B) No. 16H03607 for a project “An Empirical Analysis of Parental Employment Status, Time Allocation and Way of Thinking, and their Children's Human Capital Formation” (Project Leader: Midori Wakabayashi), a Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) Grant in Aid for Scientific Research (B) No. 21H00725 for a project on “Time Allocation, Intra-Household Productive Activities and Health Capital Formation” (P.I.: Shinya Kajitani), and Kyoto Sangyo University Research Grant No. E1901 (P.I.: Shinya Kajitani). Publisher Copyright: {\textcopyright} 2022 The Authors",
year = "2022",
month = dec,
doi = "10.1016/j.ssmph.2022.101245",
language = "English",
volume = "20",
journal = "SSM - Population Health",
issn = "2352-8273",
publisher = "Elsevier Limited",
}
