J. Paul Leigh Professor of Health Economics, Center for Healthcare Policy and Research
J. Paul Leigh received his degree in Economics from the
University of Wisconsin, Madison. His fields of expertise are
health and labor economics as well as econometrics. In recent
years he has written papers on tobit regression, instrumental
variables, and attrition bias that attempt to popularize
econometric techniques for research physicians and
epidemiologists. He has also written papers that estimate the
costs of occupational injuries and illnesses as well as costs of
hepatitis C. Additional research interests include workers
compensation, arthritis, and effects of gasoline prices on
highway fatalities.
Just as the Republicans’ default solution to any domestic problem
is “lower taxes,” Democrats insist on “more education, especially
college education.” But this obsession with education is
misplaced, and in some cases actually harmful to the project of
building “a more perfect union.” A better tactic for Democrats
would be to raise wages through government policies, especially
those aimed at workers without college educations.
COVID-19 May Have Been Job Related for One Fourth of
Diagnosed Adults
We catch COVID-19 from each other. The fewer people we
encounter,
the safer we will be. Our desire for fewer encounters was
especially apparent in employment arrangements during the first
two and a half years
of the pandemic. Most workers whom employers allowed to work from
home did so; most whose employers did not allow this reported to
their workplaces.
Objectives: To test for the effects of wages on smoking using
labor unions as instrumental variables. Methods: We analyzed four
waves of the Panel Study of Income Dynamics (2013 to 2019
alternate years). The overall sample included workers aged 18 to
70 years in 2013 and subsamples within blue clerical/white-collar
and private/public sector jobs (N = 37,117 to 8446 person years).
We used two instrumental variables: worker’s union membership and
states’ right-to-work laws.
Extensive economic research demonstrates correlations between
unions with wages, income inequality, health insurance,
discrimination, and other factors. Corresponding epidemiologic
literature demonstrates correlations between income, income
inequality, insurance, discrimination, and other factors with
health. The first purpose of this narrative review is to link
these literatures and identify 28 possible pathways whereby labor
unions might affect the health of workers. This review is
restricted to effects within workplaces; we do not consider
unions’ political activities.
Abstract: This literature review analyzes studies from the
US, Canada, the UK, and Europe from inception to April 1, 2021
and focuses on treatment designs, health outcomes, demographic
categories and data issues. Study designs are classified as
treatment-effect-on-the-treated (7 studies), intent-to-treat
(37), and what may be called possible-effects-on-anyone (10).
Treatment-effects-on-the-treated designs are best for addressing
the longstanding question: does income affect health or vice
versa?
