Will a Shrink Make you Richer? Gender Differences in the Effects of Psychotherapy on Labour Efficiency

Cozzi, Guido and Galli, Silvia and Mantovan, Noemi (2017): Will a Shrink Make you Richer? Gender Differences in the Effects of Psychotherapy on Labour Efficiency.

Abstract

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.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Gender Differences; Mental Health; Wage Gap.
• Subjects: I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I12 - Health Behavior; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J1 - Demographic Economics > J16 - Economics of Gender ; Non-labor Discrimination; J - Labor and Demographic Economics > J3 - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs > J31 - Wage Level and Structure ; Wage Differentials

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