Research

Working papers

Explaining the Long-Term Care Insurance Puzzle: The Role of Preferences for Correlation and for Quality of Life over Wealth joint work with David Crainich, Léontine Goldzahl and Florence Jusot - Under Review - Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=4796593

Abstract - Our paper investigates the role of two previously unexplored demand-side determinants of longterm care insurance: correlation preference and relative preference for quality of life over wealth.We model the effect of those preferences on the joint decision to buy long-term care and long-term care insurance contract. The model is tested using data collected in a lab experiment. Although our data provide partial support to our theoretical model, this paper provides suggestive evidence that correlation seeking and the relative preference for quality of life over wealth explain the lack of long-term care insurance take-up.

Well-being and technology: The effect of individual laptops in high-school joint work with Sigrid Johanne Husøy

Abstract - Information and Communication Technologies (ICT), including internet use, having a smartphone, having a laptop and social media use, has become part of every day life. Education policies rely on the use of such technologies and in Norway, every student is provided with a laptop upon her entry into upper secondary school. We evaluate the effect of this policy on different aspects of students' well-being (bullying, motivation, social contentment) by leveraging the staggered implementation of the program across schools. We collected data on the year of adoption of the program by the Norwegian schools and matched it with data from a national student survey that occurs every year from 2006 to 2013. Our identification strategy relies on the comparison of schools that were early adopters against those which adopted the program later. The overall results point towards no effect of the program implementation on our well-being outcomes. We find a diminution in the propensity to declare oneself bullied at school, which can be interpreted as a substitution to cyberbullying or crowd-out to other activities.

Mental health and productivity - A longitudinal ecological study in England joint work with Sam Khavandi, Matt Sutton and Luke Munford

Abstract - There are persistent and growing regional inequalities in mental health and economic productivity within England. The objective of this study is to explore the association between mental health and productivity at the area level, with a particular focus on the existing regional inequalities between the North and the Rest of England. Using a panel dataset at the Local Authority Districts (LAD) level from 2011 to 2019, we explore the association between productivity, measured by gross-value added per capita, and population mental health, measured by a composite index. We account for time-constant characteristics using a fixed effect approach. The results indicate a robust positive association: the higher the mental health, the higher the productivity. We do not find evidence of mechanisms linked to labour market participation. As the British government continues to promote ‘levelling up’ policies, it is important to recognize the contribution of mental health and how investing in it can be translated into productivity gains.

Effect of BMI on job satisfaction in Norway: a Mendelian Randomisation analysis using HUNT-data joint work with Edwards C. H., Hughes A., Bjørnelv G.M.W., Vie G.A., Carlsen F. & Bjørngaard J.H.

Abstract - Job satisfaction is an important outcome that reflects job quality and influences workers' productivity. Body Mass Index (BMI) might have an effect on job satisfaction for several reasons. People with higher BMI might suffer from weight stigma at work, have lower job expectations, have poorer health which affects their overall job satisfaction. The association between BMI and job satisfaction is prone to endogeneity issues (reverse causality, selection, confounders bias). To study the effect of BMI on job satisfaction, we propose an identification strategy based on Mendelian Randomization (MR), i.e. using genetic variants as instrumental variables for BMI. Relying on rich data from a Norwegian region, we show that people with higher BMI are more likely to declare good job satisfaction. Once we implement our instrumental variable strategy, there is no evidence that BMI has an effect on job satisfaction. We also explore other dimensions of job satisfaction: solidarity, support, welfare and victimization at work and do not find further evidence.

Publications

Peer-reviewed articles

Mignon, D. (2021). Étude de l’effet des fragilités psychologiques des étudiants sur les croyances de contrôle. Revue économique, 72, 969-1000. https://doi.org/10.3917/reco.726.0969 

Mignon, D. & Jusot, F. (2020). Inequalities of Opportunity in the Use of Healthcare by Young Adults in France. Economie et Statistique / Economics and Statistics, 514‑515‑516, 155–173. https://doi.org/10.24187/ecostat.2020.514t.2014 


Book chapters - In French

Mignon D.  & Morvan Y. (2020), "Le recours aux soins des étudiants souffrant de dépression en 2016", in La Santé des Etudiants, La Documentation Française

Mignon D.  (2020), "Se préoccuper de sa santé: arbitrage entre le curatif, la prévention et les comportements à risque", in La Santé des Etudiants, La Documentation Française

Work in progress

BMI Effect on Multimorbidity: A Mendelian Randomization Analyses within the HUNT Study joint work with Carlsen F., Vie G.A., Bjørngaard J.H. & Bjørnelv G.M.W.

A speeding revolution? The yellow vest protests and traffic accidents joint work with Krehic L.