Will a shrink make you richer? Gender differences in the effects of psychotherapy on labour efficiency

Publication type

Journal Article

Authors

Publication date

October 15, 2018

Summary:

This paper provides a first theoretical and empirical analysis of the effects of psychotherapy on individual productivity. We build a simple model in which a deterioration of mental health endogenously causes a decrease in productivity, which is counterbalanced by psychotherapy. We test our hypotheses on the British Household Panel Survey data. We find that individuals suffering from mental health problems benefit economically from consulting a psychotherapist. Moreover, we find that the returns are higher for men than for women, even though women are more likely to seek help.

Published in

European Economic Review

Volume and page numbers

Volume: 109 , p.257 -274

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euroecorev.2017.10.005

ISSN

142921

Subjects

#524904

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