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A growing literature has found a link between performance-related pay (PRP) and poor health, but the causal direction of the relationship is not known. To address this gap, the current paper utilises a crossover experimental design to randomly allocate subjects into a work task paid either by performance or a fixed payment. Stress is measured through self-reporting and salivary cortisol. The study finds that PRP subjects had significantly higher cortisol levels and self-rated stress than those receiving fixed pay, ceteris paribus. By circumventing issues of self-report and self-selection, these results provide novel evidence for the detrimental effect PRP may have on health.

This paper estimates the propensity to retire and the persistence of remaining retired once the decision to retire has been made in the US labour market, using a dynamic panel probit model. The estimated income effect of higher housing wealth is virtually zero and that of financial assets wealth is positive, increasing the retirement probability. The substitution effect of earned income is negative, thus decreasing the retirement probability. The retirement decision is strongly state persistent for up to three years after the initial retirement decision and the state persistence of retirement is reinforced by wealth and earned income.

Hauptgegenstand dieses Projektes war es, eine internationale Datenbank (insb. für Europa) von Faktoren herzustellen, die für die gesundheitlichen Auswirkungen von wirtschaftlicher Umstrukturierung und Personalabbau relevant sind. Daten von der WHO, EUROSTAT, OECD, FAO, ILO, Weltbank und der UNO wurden so zusammengeführt, dass sie die Analyse ökonomischer Faktoren, die Umstrukturierungen hervorbringen und die Gesundheit der Bevölkerungen industrialisierter Länder beeinflussen, ermöglichen. Es wurde darauf geachtet, die wichtigsten Hypothesen zu einer möglichen Relation von ökonomischer Umstrukturierung und Gesundheit in Betracht zu ziehen. Globalisierung und Umstrukturierung Brenner bestimmt die zentralen externen Faktoren, die großen Einfluss auf den Umstrukturierungsprozess haben: Globalisierung (durch internationalen Handel), technischer Wandel (als Hauptursache für Produktivitätsanstieg), politische Entscheidungen (bzgl. internationaler Konkurrenzfähigkeit, High-Tech-Investitionen, Investitionen in Bildung und Wissenschaft, Einwanderungspolitik) und Unternehmensführung (u.a. Trends in akademischen Management-Theorien bezüglich Kostenkontrolle, Profitmaximierung, sozialer Verantwortung und Investitionsentscheidungen in Kapitalgüter vs. Humankapital). Mögliche Quellen einer Gesundheitsbeeinträchtigung der Bevölkerung sind Deindustrialisierung, Personalabbau, Outsourcing, Offshoring und Standortwechsel. Geschwindigkeit des Wandels Globalisierung und die damit verbundenen Umstrukturierungen üben einen extremen Anpassungsdruck auf die betroffenen Beschäftigten, Familien und Gemeinwesen aus. Aber die Geschichte hat gezeigt, dass eine ausbleibende oder besonders langsame Umstrukturierung zu langsamen Wachstum, Inflation und instabilen Währungskursen führt. Schnelle Umstrukturierung ist in modernen, industrialisierten, vernetzten und technologisch innovativen Gesellschaften ein Teil des Lebens. Die Hypothese muss überprüft werden, dass der negative Einfluss von Umstrukturierung auf die Gesundheit der Beschäftigten proportional zur Länge des wirtschaftlichen Abschwungs verläuft. Personalabbau ist ein weiterer Aspekt des heutigen Arbeitsmarktes, der negative Auswirkungen wie höhere Arbeitsbelastung, unsicherere Arbeitsbedingungen, Gesundheitsgefahren und die Gefahr der Arbeitslosigkeit für die Weiterbeschäftigten haben kann. Andreeva et al. untersuchen diesen Hauptaspekt des Personalabbaus. Regionale Dimensionen Edenharter führt Scatterplots als ein Werkzeug zur Überwachung regionaler Entwicklung ein. Lineare Regression erzeugt die Scatterplots, die die Beziehung zwischen Lebenserwartung und zwei ökonomischen Indikatoren, Arbeitslosigkeitsrate und Einkommen, in jeder der Regionen in der Fallstudie in Deutschland anzeigen. Sozioökonomische Gesundheitsungleichheiten in der Rezession Die Untersuchung von Theodossiou geht der Frage nach, durch welche Einflusswege Rezession und ökonomische Erholung sozioökonomische Ungleichheiten und Arbeitslosigkeit verstärken, welche sich wiederum auf die physische und psychische Gesundheit auswirken. In der empirischen Literatur wird Arbeitslosigkeit als eine zentrale sozioökonomische Determinante von Gesundheit identifiziert, insbesondere bei Männern. Allerdings beeinflusst Arbeitslosigkeit nicht nur die Arbeitslosen, sondern auch ihre Partner und Kinder. Ein wichtiger politischer Rückschluss der Untersuchung ist der Langzeit- und sogar generationsübergreifende Effekt von Armut und Arbeitslosigkeit. Entsprechende Entbehrungen in der Kindheit haben langwierige Folgen für die Gesundheit der Betroffenen, die sich erst später im Erwerbsalter zeigen. Wirtschaftspolitik und gesundheitliche Ungleichheit Drakopoulos berichtet, dass infolge der Stagflation der 70er Jahre, als die Regierungen konservativer wurden, der Schwerpunkt ihrer Wirtschaftspolitik sich auf Kosten der Bekämpfung von Arbeitslosigkeit hin zur Bekämpfung der Inflation verschob. Ein positiver Einfluss wird folgenden Maßnahmen zugeschrieben: Reduzierung der Arbeitslosigkeit, höheren Ausgaben, niedrigeren Steuern und Zinsraten sowie Subventionen an Firmen, die ihre Beschäftigungsraten erhöhen. Bildungsausgaben die die Arbeitskräfte für die Bedürfnisse neuer Industrien und Bereiche mit Arbeitskräftemangel qualifizieren erhöhen das Humankapital und die Produktivität. Politische Maßnahmen zur Abschwächung der Umstrukturierungsfolgen Triomphe stellt fest, dass Umstrukturierung für Manager, Gewerkschafter und Beschäftigte eine breite Palette von Änderungen bedeutet, die mindestens einen Unternehmensbereich oder ein gesamtes Unternehmen in Form von Schließung, Personalabbau, Outsourcing, Offshoring, Leiharbeit, Zusammenlegung, Versetzungen oder anderen komplexen Reorganisationen betreffen. Doch für die betroffenen Regionen und Arbeitsämter bedeutet es vor allem Personalabbau und Fabrikschließungen. The main purpose of this project has been to construct an international database, especially for Europe, involving factors that relate to economic restructuring and job downsizing that have implications for health. Relevant data from the WHO, EUROSTAT, OECD, FAO, ILO, World Bank, and United Nations have been merged in a manner that will permit analysis of economic factors bearing on restructuring as they influence the health of industrialized country populations. In order to be certain that the relevant factors were included in the database, the investigators wanted to be confident that the major hypotheses regarding the potential relation between economic restructuring and health were taken into account. Thus, the more specific aims of the project were to identify the literatures and hypotheses that bear on these issues. These literatures are reviewed below. Globalisation and Restructuring: Indicators Brenner identifies the principal external factors that are thought to have a major influence on the restructuring process. These include globalization (via international trade), technological change (i.e. the principal source of productivity growth), government policies (involving international competitiveness, high technology investments, investments in science and education, immigration policies) and management style (including the trends in academic managerial theories as to cost control, profit maximization, social responsibility, investment in capital goods versus human capital etc). Potential sources of harm to the health of the population include: deindustrialization, downsizing, outsourcing, offshoring and delocalization. Rate of Change We know that globalization, and associated restructuring, places extreme pressure on adaptation of affected workers, families and communities. But, history has shown that lack of restructuring or restructuring at very slow speed leads to slow growth, inflation and exchange rate instability. Rapid restructuring is a fact of life for modern, industrialised, highly interconnected, technologically innovative societies. A hypothesis that needs testing is the belief that negative impacts of restructuring on workers‘ health are proportional to the length of the economic downturn. Downsizing is another aspect of today‘s labour market which can introduce negative changes for those who remain employed, such as heavier workload, unsafe working conditions, physical hazards, and job insecurity. Andreeva and colleagues review these main effects of downsizing. Regional Dimension Edenharter introduces scatter-plots as a tool to monitor regional development over time. Linear regression generated the scatter-plots indicating the relationship between life expectancy and two economic indicators, unemployment rate and income, in each of the regions in the case study of Germany. Socioeconomic Inequalities of Health in Recessions The review by Theodossiou suggests mechanisms, or pathways, for how recession and economic upheaval foster socioeconomic inequalities and unemployment, which, in turn, impact on physical and mental health. The review of the empirical literature identifies unemployment as a key socioeconomic determinant of health, particularly for men. However, unemployment does not only affect unemployed individuals but also their spouses and children. A main policy implication of this review of evidence is the long term and even intergenerational effect of poverty and unemployment. Childhood deprivation due to poverty and unemployment of their parents have long lasting detrimental effects on the health of individuals that are visible at later ages of working life. Economic Policy and Health Inequalities Drakopoulos recounts that, following the stagflation of the 1970’s, as governments became more conservative, the emphasis of their economic policies shifted towards eliminating inflation at the expense of unemployment. What particular economic policies have a beneficial impact on health? These include policies targeted to reducing unemployment, including increased government spending, lowered taxation and low interest rates as well as employment subsidies to firms in order to maintain/increase employment levels. Education and training funds directed toward capacity building of the workforce to fill new industries and address critical shortages improves human capital and also increases productivity. Policies Mitigating Consequences of Restructuring Triomphe indicates that for managers, trade unions and employees, restructuring refers to a wide panel of changes, affecting at least a whole organizational sector or an entire company in the forms of closure, downsizing, job losses, outsourcing, off-shoring, sub-contracting, merging, delocalization, internal job mobility or other complex internal reorganizations. But, it means mostly downsizing, closing factories and dismissals for employment services and territories.

This study assesses the "fair-wage-effort" hypothesis, by examining (a) the relationship between relative wage comparisons and job satisfaction and quitting intensions, and (b) the relative ranking of stated effort inducing-incentives, in a novel dataset of unionised and non-unionised European employees. By distinguishing between downward and upward-looking wage comparisons, it is shown that wage comparisons to similar workers exert an asymmetric impact on the job satisfaction of union workers, a pattern consistent with inequity-aversion and conformism to the reference point. Moreover, union workers evaluate peer observation and good industrial relations more highly than payment and other incentives. In contrast, non-union workers are found to be more status-seeking in their satisfaction responses and less dependent on their peers in their effort choices The results are robust to endogenous union membership, considerations of generic loss aversion and across different tenure profiles. They are supportive of the individual egalitarian bias of collective wage determination and self-enforcing effort norms.

This paper engages in an interdisciplinary survey of the current state of knowledge related to the theory, determinants and consequences of occupational safety and health (OSH). First, it synthesizes the available theoretical frameworks used by economists and psychologists to understand the issues related to the optimal provision of OSH in the labour market. Second, it reviews the academic literature investigating the correlates of a comprehensive set of OSH indicators, which portray the state of OSH infrastructure (social security expenditure, prevention, regulations), inputs (chemical and physical agents, ergonomics, working time, violence) and outcomes (injuries, illnesses, absenteeism, job satisfaction) within workplaces. Third, it explores the implications of the lack of OSH in terms of the economic and social costs that are entailed. Finally, the survey identifies areas of future research interests and suggests priorities for policy initiatives that can improve the health and safety of workers.

A ranking of a variety of incentive devices used by firms according to their perceived effectiveness by employees is identified. The determinants of employee incentive preferences are also investigated, suggesting a ‘menu’ of conditions under which an organization’s personnel policies will have maximum motivational impact on its workforce. Based on the beliefs of a unique sample of workers from seven European countries, the results suggest that (a) the primary determinant of the level of employee effort is the amount of discretion offered at work; (b) pay incentives and ‘gift exchanges’ are the most important motivators; (c) the use of monitoring and Taylor-type assembly lines are the least effective incentives; and (d) the optimal design of incentive strategies by firms is strongly shaped by a host of contextual factors. The expressed desire for autonomy, and distaste for control, by employees gives credibility to the “participative” management approach.

The increasing use of incentive pay schemes in recent years has raised concerns about their potential detrimental effect on intrinsic job satisfaction (JS), job security and employee morale. This study explores the impact of pay incentives on the overall job satisfaction of workers in the UK and their satisfaction with various facets of jobs. Using data from eight waves (1998-2005) of the British Household Panel Survey (BHPS) and a uniquely-designed well-being dataset (EPICURUS), a significant positive impact on job satisfaction is only found for those receiving fixed-period bonuses. These conclusions are robust to unobserved heterogeneity, and are shown to depend on a number of job-quality characteristics that have not been controlled for in previous studies.

This study attempts to estimate the ‘utility cost’ of temporary employment contracts purged of the psychological effects of adaptation. A conjoint analysis experiment is used that examines the ex-ante contract preferences of a unique sample of low-skilled employees from 7 European countries. It is shown that permanent contract holders request a significant wage premium to move to a temporary job. In contrast, temporary workers are indifferent between permanent and temporary contracts, ceteris paribus. The evidence suggests that individuals have a psychological immune system which neutralises events that challenge their sense of well-being, such as job insecurity. The methodology developed in this paper can provide policymakers with an alternative and relatively inexpensive method of quantifying the transitional loss (or gain) in welfare that individuals might experience in response to changing labour market policies.

This paper investigates the effects of childhood deprivation on health at the later stages of the working age. The results indicate that there is an effect of childhood socioeconomic conditions on later adulthood overall health profile and second on the likelihood of suffering from a number of medical conditions. The risk of frail health is higher among adult respondents of the age between 50 to 65 who grew up in unfavourable socioeconomic circumstances, after controlling for their genetic risk traits, and their current educational and wealth status.

This paper investigates whether any significant differences in the job satisfaction of high- and low-paid workers exist in eleven European labour markets. Using data from six waves (1996-2001) of the ECHP, it is shown that low-paid employees are significantly less satisfied with their jobs compared to the high-paid in the periphery of Southern European countries, as opposed to those in the North. This evidence suggests that in the face of an increasing flexibility in labour markets, low-paid jobs in the EU are not inevitably of low quality, though in some countries low-wage workers have experienced the full brunt of both lower-paid and bad quality jobs. For these countries policies that centre on the quality of work are essential. Evidence indicates that the cross-country differences reflect the disparate manner with which the flexibility-security nexus has been confronted.

In this paper we compare periods of low pay employment between rural and urban areas in the UK. Using the British Household Panel Survey, we estimate the probability that a period of low pay employment will end allowing for a number of possible outcomes, namely to a "high pay" job, self-employment, unemployment and out of the labour force. The results show that there are statistically significant differences in the dynamics of low pay across urban and rural labour markets, particularly in terms of exits to high pay and out of the labour force. After controlling for different personal and job characteristics across markets, rural low pay durations are slightly longer on average, with a lower probability that rural workers will move to high pay. However, the results suggest that the most significant urban-rural differences in the typical low pay experience are concentrated among certain types of individuals, e.g. young workers, women without qualifications.