1. Pandemic Depression: COVID-19 and the Mental Health of the Self-Employed
- Author
-
Caliendo, Marco, Graeber, Daniel, Kritikos, Alexander S., and Seebauer, Johannes
- Subjects
History ,Economics and Econometrics ,Polymers and Plastics ,L26 ,Center for Economic Policy Analysis (CEPA) ,Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering ,jel:L26 ,representative longitudinal survey data ,gender ,ddc:330 ,Fachgruppe Volkswirtschaftslehre ,Self-employment ,Business and International Management ,D31 ,resilience ,J16 ,I18 ,330 Wirtschaft ,I14 ,COVID-19 ,jel:D31 ,self-employment ,Extern ,jel:I18 ,300 Sozialwissenschaften::330 Wirtschaft::330 Wirtschaft ,jel:J16 ,PHQ-4 score ,mental health - Abstract
We investigate the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on self-employed people’s mental health. Using representative longitudinal survey data from Germany, we reveal differential effects by gender: whereas self-employed women experienced a substantial deterioration in their mental health, self-employed men displayed no significant changes up to early 2021. Financial losses are important in explaining these differences. In addition, we find larger mental health responses among self-employed women who were directly affected by government-imposed restrictions and bore an increased childcare burden due to school and daycare closures. We also find that self-employed individuals who are more resilient coped better with the crisis., CEPA Discussion Papers; 46
- Published
- 2022