Michele Ubaldi (University of Turin)
Giovanni Gallo
This paper investigates the effect of partner unemployment on physical well-being and dietary habits of individuals. Using data from two nationally representative Italian surveys of households, we employ partial identification to address endogenous selection into unemployment showing that the impact of partner unemployment on physical health is related to the role of the unemployed within the household. We document a null effect when the spouse is unemployed, whereas we find a negative health effect when the household head is unemployed. The negative effect of household head unemployment may be explained by a larger budget constraint that affects the dietary habits of the household by lowering the quality of food consumption. The heterogeneity analysis reveals that the effect is larger in households led by women or living in areas with a wider gender gap in employment rates.