Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/260231 
Year of Publication: 
2018
Series/Report no.: 
Working Paper No. 2018:2
Publisher: 
Lund University, School of Economics and Management, Department of Economics, Lund
Abstract: 
This paper examines the short-term effect between take-up of Social Assistance Benefit (SAB) and mental health. Using a panel dataset including rich yearly register data on e.g. income, income sources, unemployment and types of pharmaceutical consumption for over 140,000 Swedes 2006-2012, we quantify the importance of the psychosocial dimensions (e.g. shame and guilt) of the socioeconomic status – mental health nexus. Our main independent variable is an indicator for SAB, which is the means-tested last-resort option for individuals with no other means to cover necessary living expenses, received by six per cent of all Swedish households annually. Mental ill-health is measured by data on prescribed antidepressants, anxiolytics, or hypnotics. While SAB strongly associates with psychopharmaca consumption in a cross-section of observations, the association largely disappear once we introduce individual fixed effects. These results indicate that other mechanisms than shame or guilt related to the SAB experience are more important for mental health in the short term.
Subjects: 
mental health
socio-economic status
social assistance
shame
guilt
individual fixed effect
JEL: 
I12
I14
I18
Additional Information: 
Additional online appendix available.
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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