Working from home and mental health: Before and during the COVID-19 pandemic. A new GLO Discussion Paper by GLO Fellow Anam Bilgrami.

Discussion Paper, News, Post, Post-23

A new GLO Discussion Paper finds no evidence that working from home harmed mental health pre-pandemic, but may have deteriorated mental health during the pandemic.

Anam Bilgrami

GLO Discussion Paper No. 1265, 2023

Working from home and mental health: Before and during the COVID-19 pandemic – Download PDF
by Bilgrami, Anam

GLO Fellow Anam Bilgrami

Author Abstract: Robust evidence on working from home and mental health is lacking, with recent concerns it may blur work-home boundaries. Working from home was discretionary and less intensive in pre-pandemic years, while during the pandemic, it was often intensive and ‘mandated’. I estimate the relationship between working from home and mental health via fixed-effects and instrumental variable (IV) estimation. I find no evidence that working from home harmed mental health, on average, pre-pandemic, with IV estimates suggesting potentially improved health. Conversely, working from home may have deteriorated mental health during the pandemic, potentially due its ‘forced’, intensive nature during this time.

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JUST PUBLISHED

Vol. 36, Issue 3, July 2023: Journal of Population Economics (JOPE) 26 articles on: Aspirations and preferences; Environment, Weather, Climate; Family; Fertility; Historical demography; Ageing, pensions, social security; Migration
https://link.springer.com/journal/148/volumes-and-issues/36-3

JOPE has CiteScore 6.5 (2021, LINK) & Impact Factor 4.7 (2021, LINK)

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