Does a Mandatory Reduction of Standard Working Hours Improve Employees' Health Status?
利用法国和葡萄牙的劳动力市场数据，研究强制缩短标准工作时间对员工健康的影响，发现法国年轻男性健康恶化、女性改善，葡萄牙无显著效果。
Most of the empirical evidence regarding the impact of reductions of standard working hours analyzes its effects on employment outcomes, family life balance, and social networks, but there is no empirical evidence of its effects on health outcomes. This study uses panel data for France and Portugal and exploits the exogenous variation of working hours coming from labor regulation and estimates its impact on health outcomes (from 39 to 35 hours a week and from 44 to 40 hours a week, respectively). Results suggest that the mandatory reduction of standard working hours decreased the working hours of treated individuals (and not the hours of individuals in the control group). Results also suggest that the fact of being treated generated a negative (positive) effect on young males’ (females’) health in France. No effects on health outcomes were found for Portugal.