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‘MENTAL HEALTH AND EMPLOYMENT OF THE ELDERLY IN TAIWAN: A SIMULTANEOUS EQUATION APPROACH
Author(s) -
CHANG HUNGHAO,
YEN STEVEN T.
Publication year - 2011
Publication title -
pacific economic review
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.34
H-Index - 33
eISSN - 1468-0106
pISSN - 1361-374X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1468-0106.2011.00560.x
Subject(s) - life expectancy , mental health , cohort , mental illness , structural equation modeling , instrumental variable , population , cohort effect , expectancy theory , cohort study , population ageing , demographic economics , demography , economics , gerontology , psychology , medicine , econometrics , psychiatry , sociology , statistics , social psychology , mathematics , pathology
Longer life expectancy and declining birth rates have contributed to an aging population in many countries. This paper addresses the relationship between mental health and employment status among the elderly in Taiwan. A simultaneous equation system is developed that accommodates the discrete and censored nature of the two endogenous variables. Using data from a nationwide survey of the elderly in Taiwan, we find that older adults with mental illness are less likely to work, while those currently working are less prone to mental illness compared to their unemployed cohort.