Volume 22, Number 4 (Fall) 1987
Breslaw, Jon A. and Morton Stelcner. 1987. "The Effect of Health on the Labor Force Behavior of Elderly Men in Canada." Journal of Human Resources 22(4):490-517.
This paper estimates a model of the labor force behavior of elderly males in Canada, paying explicit attention to the influence of health. The authors construct a health index using data from the Canada Health Survey. We estimate an earnings equation for full-year, full-time participants to obtain the potential earnings of each individual. We then examine four labor force states, using a hierarchical elimination-by-aspects (HEBA) model. Our results suggest that health is as important as potential earnings in determining the labor force behavior of men in Canada.
The authors are members of the department of economics, Concordia University. Stelcner is on leave, serving as visiting researcher at the World Bank, Development Research Department. Financial assistance for this research was provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and by Statistics Canada. Health Division. The authors are grateful for the helpful comments and suggestions of Douglas Angus, Jacques van der Gaag, and the referees of this journal. The authors take responsibility for all errors and omissions.
© 2002 by the Board of Regents of the University of Wisconsin System
US ISSN 0022-166X