Does higher education protect against obesity? Evidence using Mendelian randomization

2017

Objectives. The aim of this explorative study was to examine the effect of education on obesity using Mendelian randomization. Methods. Participants (N = 2011) were from the on- going nationally representative Young Finns Study (YFS) that began in 1980 when six cohorts (aged 30, 33, 36, 39, 42 and 45 in 2007) were recruited. The average value of BMI (kg/m(2)) measurements in 2007 and 2011 and genetic information were linked to comprehensive register based information on the years of education in 2007. We first used a linear regression (Ordinary Least Squares, OLS) to estimate the relationship between education and BMI. To identify a causal relationship, we exploited Mendelian randomization …

Stature and long-term labor market outcomes: Evidence using Mendelian randomization.

2017

We use the Young Finns Study (N = ∼2000) on the measured height linked to register-based long-term labor market outcomes. The data contain six age cohorts (ages 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 and 18, in 1980) with the average age of 31.7, in 2001, and with the female share of 54.7. We find that taller people earn higher earnings according to the ordinary least squares (OLS) estimation. The OLS models show that 10 cm of extra height is associated with 13% higher earnings. We use Mendelian randomization, with the genetic score as an instrumental variable (IV) for height to account for potential confounders that are related to socioeconomic background, early life conditions and parental investments, which ar…

Body weight and premature retirement: population-based evidence from Finland.

2021

Abstract Background Health status is a principal determinant of labour market participation. In this study, we examined whether excess weight is associated with withdrawal from the labour market owing to premature retirement. Methods The analyses were based on nationally representative data from Finland over the period 2001–15 (N ∼ 2500). The longitudinal data included objective measures of body weight (i.e. body mass index and waist circumference) linked to register-based information on actual retirement age. The association between the body weight measures and premature retirement was modelled using cubic b-splines via logistic regression. The models accounted for other possible risk fact…

Genetic basis of STEM occupational choice and regional economic performance : a UK biobank genome-wide association study

2023

Abstract Background Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) professionals are regarded as the highly skilled labor force that fosters economic productivity, enterprise innovation, and international competitiveness of a country. This study aims to understand the genetic predisposition to STEM occupations and investigate its associations with regional economic performance. We conducted a genome-wide association study on the occupational choice of STEM jobs based on a sample of 178,976 participants from the UK Biobank database. Results We identified two genetic loci significantly associated with participants’ STEM job choices: rs10048736 on chromosome 2 and rs12903858 on chrom…

The effect of polytechnic reform on migration

2011

This paper examines the effect of the polytechnic reform on geographical mobility. A polytechnic, higher education reform took place in Finland in the 1990s. It gradually transformed former vocational colleges into polytechnics and also brought higher education to regions that did not have a university before. This expansion of higher education provides exogenous variation in the regional supply of higher education. The reform raised the mobility of high school graduates across local labour markets in the years after they had completed their secondary studies, which indicated increased mobility between high school and post-secondary education. We estimate that the reform enhanced the annual…

A kink that makes you sick : The effect of sick pay on absence

2018

We exploit a regression kink design to estimate the elasticity of the duration of sickness absence with respect to replacement rate. Elasticity is a central parameter in defining the optimal social insurance scheme compensating for lost earnings due to sickness. We use comprehensive administrative data and a kink in the policy rule near the median earnings. We find a statistically significant estimate of the elasticity of the order of one. peerReviewed

Devil in disguise : does drinking lead to a disability pension?

2016

Abstract Objectives To examine whether alcohol consumption in adulthood is related to the incidence of receiving a disability pension later in life. Methods Twin data for Finnish men and women born before 1958 were matched to register-based individual information on disability pensions. Twin differences were used to eliminate both shared environmental and genetic factors. The quantity of alcohol consumption was measured as the weekly average consumption using self-reported data from three surveys (1975, 1981 and 1990). The disability pension data were evaluated from 1990–2004. Results The models that account for shared environmental and genetic factors reveal that heavy drinkers are signifi…

If you drink, don't smoke : Joint associations between risky health behaviors and labor market outcomes

2018

This paper examines the links between risky health behaviors and labor market success. We provide new evidence on the joint relationships between the most prominent forms of risky health behavior - alcohol consumption, smoking and physical inactivity - and long-term labor market outcomes. We use twin data for Finnish men and women linked to register-based individual information on earnings and labor market attachment. The twin data allow us to account for shared family and environmental factors and to measure risky health behaviors in 1975 and 1981. The long-term labor market outcomes were measured in adulthood as an average over the period 1990-2009. The sample sizes are 2156 and 2498 twin…

Prescription opioid use and employment : A nationwide Finnish register study

2021

Background: The secular decline in labor market participation and the concurrent increase in opioid use in many developed countries have sparked a policy debate on the possible connection between these two trends. We examined whether the use of prescription opioids was connected to labor market outcomes relating to participation, employment and unemployment among the Finnish population. Methods: The working-age population (aged 19–64 years) living in Finland during the period 1995–2016 was used in the analyses (consisting of 67 903 701 person-year observations). Lagged values of prescription opioid use per capita were used as the exposure. Instrumental variables (IV) estimation method was u…

Does job design make workers happy?

2019

Using linked employer‐employee data for Finland we examine associations between job design, employee well‐being and job‐related stress. Three key findings stand out. First, in accordance with the theory of Karasek and Karasek and Theorell, job control and supervisory support are positively correlated with employee well‐being and negatively correlated with job‐related stress. Second, as predicted by theory, job demands are positively correlated with job‐related stress. Third, there is no association between job demands and employee well‐being and, contrary to expectations, neither job control nor supervisory support alleviate the negative relationship between job demands and job‐related stre…

Employment Status and Personal Income Before and After Onset of a Severe Mental Disorder: A Case-Control Study.

2020

Objective: Individuals with severe mental disorders have an impaired ability to work and are likely to receive income transfer payments as their main source of income. However, the magnitude of this phenomenon remains unclear. Using longitudinal population cohort register data, the authors conducted a case-control study to examine the levels of employment and personal income before and after a first hospitalization for a serious mental disorder. Methods: All individuals (N=50,551) who had been hospitalized for schizophrenia, other nonaffective psychosis, or bipolar disorder in Finland between 1988 and 2015 were identified and matched with five randomly selected participants who were the sam…

The effects of COVID-19-era unemployment and business closures upon the physical and mental health of older Europeans : Mediation through financial c…

2023

COVID-19-era lockdown policies resulted in many older persons entering unemployment, facing financial difficulties and social restrictions, and experiencing declining health. Employing the Survey of Health, Ageing and Retirement in Europe's first COVID-19 module (summer 2020) (N = 11,231) and the Karlson-Holm-Breen method for decomposition of effects within non-linear probability models (logistic regression modelling), we examined associations of pandemic-era lost work with older Europeans' (50–80 years of age) self-assessed health, depressive symptoms, and anxiety symptoms, and mediation through households' difficulties making ends meet, loneliness, and curtailed face-to-face contact with …

Born entrepreneurs? : Adolescents’ personality characteristics and entrepreneurship in adulthood

2017

Is there an entrepreneurial personality, and does it appear early in life? We provide a new answer to this important question by examining traits related to Type A behavior (Aggression, Leadership, Responsibility, and Eagerness-Energy) measured during adolescence and their relationship to entrepreneurship propensity in adulthood. The results indicate that the early-life Leadership dimension is significantly associated with a higher likelihood of 1) becoming an entrepreneur and 2) being more successful as an entrepreneur, as approximated by sales. peerReviewed

A rare disease and education : Neurofibromatosis type 1 decreases educational attainment

2021

Rare heritable syndromes may affect educational attainment. Here, we study education in neurofibromatosis 1 (NF1) that is associated with multifaceted medical, social and cognitive consequences. Educational attainment in the Finnish population‐based cohort of 1408 individuals with verified NF1 was compared with matched controls using Cox proportional hazards model with delayed entry and competing risk for death. Moreover, models accounting for the effects of cancer at age 15–30 years, parental NF1 and developmental disorders were constructed. Overall, the attainment of secondary education was reduced in individuals with NF1 compared to controls (hazard ratio 0.83, 95%CI 0.74–0.92). History …

Does better education mitigate risky health behavior? A mendelian randomization study.

2022

Education and risky health behaviors are strongly negatively correlated. Education may affect health behaviors by enabling healthier choices through higher disposable income, increasing information about the harmful effects of risky health behaviors, or altering time preferences. Alternatively, the observed negative correlation may stem from reverse causality or unobserved confounders. Based on the data from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study linked to register-based information on educational attainment and family background, this paper identifies the causal effect of education on risky health behaviors. To examine causal effects, we used a genetic score as an instrument for year…

Economic Costs of Obesity in Europe

2022

This chapter summarizes the evidence on the indirect costs of obesity that result from adverse labour market outcomes (i.e., earnings and employment losses) at the individual level. We focus on empirical evidence covering European countries emphasizing the most recent studies in this field. Research has established three key empirical observations. The first fact is that there is a negative link between excess weight and various labour market outcomes. Obesity is linked to significantly lower earnings, lower levels of employment and higher probability of entering sick leave or exiting from paid employment through disability pension. The second fact is that the negative link between excess w…

Education Leads to a More Physically Active Lifestyle : Evidence Based on Mendelian Randomization

2019

Physical inactivity is a major health risk worldwide. Observational studies suggest that higher education is positively related to physical activity, but it is not clear whether this relationship constitutes a causal effect. Using participants (N = 1651) drawn from the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study linked to nationwide administrative data from Statistics Finland, this study examined whether educational attainment, measured by years of education, is related to adulthood physical activity in terms of overall physical activity, weekly hours of intensive activity, total steps per day, and aerobic steps per day. We employed ordinary least squares (OLS) models and extended the analysis…

More educated, more mobile? Evidence from post-secondary education reform

2016

More educated, more mobile? Evidence from post-secondary education reform. Spatial Economic Analysis. This paper examines the causal impact of the level of education on within-country migration. To account for biases resulting from selection into post-secondary education, it uses a large-scale reform within the higher education system that gradually transformed former vocational colleges into polytechnics in Finland in the 1990s. This reform created quasi-exogenous variation in the supply of higher education over time and across regions. The results based on multinomial treatment effects models and population register data show that, overall, polytechnic graduates have a significantly highe…

Schizophrenia polygenic risk score and long-term success in the labour market: A cohort study

2022

Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Authors Employment is rare among people with a schizophrenia diagnosis. Meanwhile, a genetic liability for schizophrenia may hinder labour market performance. We studied how the polygenic risk score (PGS) for schizophrenia related to education and labour market outcomes. We found that a higher PGS was linked to lower educational levels and weaker labour market outcomes as well as a higher likelihood of receiving social income transfers, particularly among men. Assuming that the link is causal, our results indicate that individuals with schizophrenia or schizophrenia-related traits have a weakened ability to fully participate in the labour market, potentially …

Health endowment and later-life outcomes in the labour market : Evidence using genetic risk scores and reduced-form models

2019

This paper examines the relationship between health endowment and later-life outcomes in the labour market. The analysis is based on reduced-form models in which labour market outcomes are regressed on genetic variants related to the increased risk of cardiovascular diseases. We use linked Finnish data that have many strengths. Genetic risk scores constitute exogenous measures for health endowment, and accurate administrative tax records on earnings, employment and social income transfers provide a comprehensive account of an individual’s long-term performance in the labour market. The results show that although the direction of an effect is generally consistent with theoretical reasoning, …

Smoking and long-term labour market outcomes.

2014

Objective To examine the long-term effects of smoking on labour market outcomes using twin data matched to register-based individual information on earnings. Method Twin data for Finnish men born 1945–1957 was used to remove the shared environmental and genetic factors. The results were subjected to extensive robustness testing. Lifetime cigarette consumption was measured by (cumulative) cigarette pack-years in early adulthood. The average of an individual's earnings (and, alternatively, taxable income) was measured over a subsequent 15-year period in later adulthood. Results Smokers have lower long-term income and earnings. For example, controlling for the shared environmental and genetic …

School achievement in adolescence and the risk of mental disorders in early adulthood: a Finnish nationwide register study

2023

AbstractSchool grades in adolescence have been linked to later psychiatric outcomes, but large-scale nationwide studies across the spectrum of mental disorders are scarce. In the present study, we examined the risk of a wide array of mental disorders in adulthood, as well as the risk of comorbidity, associated with school achievement in adolescence. We used population-based cohort data comprising all individuals born in Finland over the period 1980–2000 (N = 1,070,880) who were followed from age 15 or 16 until a diagnosis of mental disorder, emigration, death, or December 2017, whichever came first. Final grade average from comprehensive school was the exposure, and the first diagnosed ment…

The biometric antecedents to happiness

2017

It has been suggested that biological markers are associated with human happiness. We contribute to the empirical literature by examining the independent association between various aspects of biometric wellbeing measured in childhood and happiness in adulthood. Using Young Finns Study data (n = 1905) and nationally representative linked data we examine whether eight biomarkers measured in childhood (1980) are associated with happiness in adulthood (2001). Using linked data we account for a very rich set of confounders including age, sex, body size, family background, nutritional intake, physical activity, income, education and labour market experiences. We find that there is a negative rel…

Genetic endowments, parental resources and adult health: Evidence from the Young Finns Study

2017

This paper uses longitudinal survey data linked to administrative registers to examine socioeconomic gradients in health, particularly whether the effects of genetic endowments interact with the socioeconomic resources of the parental household. We find that genetic risk scores contribute to adult health measured by biomarkers. This result is consistent with the findings from genome-wide association studies. Socioeconomic gradients in health differ based on biomarker and resource measures. Family education is negatively related to obesity and the waist-hip ratio, and family income is negatively related to low-density lipoprotein cholesterol and triglyceride levels. Parental resources do not…

Does ICT Usage Erode Routine Occupations at the Firm Level?

2019

We present decompositions and regression analyses that evaluate the routinization hypothesis and occupational polarization at the firm level. We establish two important facts. First, the results for the increasing abstract and declining routine occupation shares of total wage bill are consistent with the routinization hypothesis at the firm level. Second, the observed changes coincide with the usage of ICT in firms. This implies that disappearing middle-level (routine) work can be traced to firm-level technological change. Peer reviewed

Sustainable Working Life in a Swedish Twin Cohort—A Definition Paper with Sample Overview

2021

Background: A unified or consensus definition of “sustainable working life” remains lacking, although studies investigating risk factors for labour market exit are numerous. In this study, we aimed (1) to update the information and to explore a definition of “sustainable working life” via a systematic literature review and (2) to describe the working life trajectories via the prevalence of sickness absence (SA), disability pension (DP), and unemployment in a Swedish twin cohort to provide a sample overview in our Sustainable Working Life-project. Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted to explore the studies with the search phrase “sustainable working life” in PubMed, PsycInfo…

Relative age at school entry, school performance and long-term labour market outcomes

2015

This article examines the impact of relative age at school entry on school performance, educational attainment and labour market outcomes later in life. We find that the advantages of maturity at school entry are short-lived with relative age having no impact on the years of formal education, adulthood earnings or employment. Our findings are consistent with the view that assumes modest maturity effects in countries where formal education begins late and there are no ability-differentiated learning groups at initial grades. peerReviewed

High-involvement management practices and the productivity of firms: Detecting industry heterogeneity

2020

The aim of this article is to clarify the links between high-involvement management (HIM) practices, productivity and branches of industry. The data combine a representative survey (N = 787) of private-sector firms in Finland and register-based firm-level data on sales per employee in the year following the survey. The authors analysed the data using mixture regression and identified two clusters in the association between HIM and productivity. In one cluster, high-involvement management and productivity were positively associated, while in the other cluster, the association was negative. The association between the intensity of HIM utilisation and productivity is not always additive; the b…

Biomarkers and Long-Term Labour Market Outcomes: The Case of Creatine

2014

I evaluate the impact of the UK Working Time Regulations 1998, which introduced mandatory paid holiday entitlement. The regulation gave (nearly) all workers the right to a minimum of 4 weeks of paid holiday per a year. With constant weekly pay this change amounts effectively to an increase in the real hourly wage of about 8.5% for someone going from 0 to 4 weeks paid holiday per year, which should lead to adjustments in employment. For employees I use complementary log-log regression to account for right-censoring of employment spells. I find no increase in the hazard to exit employment within a year after treatment. Adjustments in wages cannot explain this result as they are increasing for…

School Tracking and Mental Health

2019

To understand how the type of education affects long-term mental health, we examine the effects of a comprehensive school reform on mental health–related hospitalizations and deaths. The reform postponed the tracking of students into vocational and academic schools from age 11 to age 16, thus affecting the set of peers and the curriculum to which these students were exposed. The reform was implemented gradually across Finnish municipalities between 1972 and 1977. We use difference-in-differences variation and administrative data. Our overall results show no discernible effects on mental health–related hospitalizations or deaths, but heterogeneity analysis shows an adverse effect on hospital…

Socioeconomic position at the age of 30 and the later risk of a mental disorder : a nationwide population-based register study

2023

BackgroundA study was undertaken to examine the association between multiple indicators of socioeconomic position (SEP) at the age of 30 and the subsequent risk of the most common mental disorders.MethodsAll persons born in Finland between 1966 and 1986 who were alive and living in Finland at the end of the year when they turned 30 were included. Educational attainment, employment status and personal total income were used as the alternative measures of SEP. Cox proportional hazards models were used to examine the association of SEP at the age of 30 with later risk of mental disorders. Additional analyses were conducted using a sibling design to account for otherwise unobserved shared famil…

Alternative measures of body composition and wage premium: New evidence from Indonesia

2019

This paper examines the relationship between body composition and earnings in a developing country setting. We use body mass index, waist circumference and hip circumference. Exploiting the panel structure of our longitudinal survey, we find that along with BMI, waist circumference is related to higher earnings in Indonesia. peerReviewed

Birth weight and adult income : An examination of mediation through adult height and body mass

2021

This paper examines the causal links between early human endowments and socioeconomic outcomes in adulthood. We use a genotyped longitudinal survey (Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study) that is linked to the administrative registers of Statistics Finland. We focus on the effect of birth weight on income via two anthropometric mediators: body mass index (BMI) and height in adulthood. We find that (i) the genetic instruments for birth weight, adult height, and adult BMI are statistically powerful; (ii) there is a robust total effect of birth weight on income for men but not for women; (iii) the total effect of birth weight on income for men is partly mediated via height but not via BMI; …

Early health, risk aversion and stock market participation

2021

To examine the relationship between early health status and financial decisions in adulthood, we link information on birth weight in 1966 from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort to data from the Finnish Central Securities Depository over the period of 1995–2010. We find that persons predisposed to poor health status in early childhood (indicated by low birth weight) avoid participating in the stock market in adulthood, with a 10% increase in birth weight associated with a 1.9% increase in probability of participation. The link between birth weight and stock market participation is partially channeled by poor early health status being associated with higher risk aversion. Early health status …

Information Integration, Coordination Failures, and Quality of Prescribing

2022

Poor information flows hamper coordination, potentially leading to suboptimal decisions in health care. We examine the effects of a large-scale policy of health information integration. We use the staggered adoption of a nationwide electronic prescribing system over four years in Finland and prescription-level administrative data. Our results show no discernible effect on the probability of co-prescribing harmful drugs on average, but the heterogeneity analysis reveals that this probability reduces in rural regions, by 35 percent. This substantial reduction is driven by interacting prescriptions from different physicians and generalists. Information integration can therefore improve the coo…

Employment and earnings trajectories before and after sickness absence due to major depressive disorder: a nationwide case-control study.

2020

ObjectivesTo examine employment and earnings trajectories before and after the first sickness absence period due to major depressive disorder (MDD).MethodsAll individuals (n=158 813) in Finland who had a first sickness absence period (lasting longer than 9 days) due to MDD between 2005 and 2015 were matched with one randomly selected individual of the same age and gender with no history of MDD. Employment status and earnings were measured using register-based data annually from 2005 to 2015. Generalised estimating equations were used to examine the trajectories of employment and earnings before and after MDD diagnosis in men and women separately.ResultsSickness absence due to MDD was associ…

Precarious workers' choices about unemployment insurance membership after the Ghent system reform : The Finnish experience

2019

The literature on the Ghent system has focused on the link between voluntary unemployment insurance and union membership in terms of industrial relations. Less attention has been paid to unemployment benefits and employees' decision-making concerning unemployment insurance, even though the core function of the Ghent system is to provide unemployment insurance. This paper examines both of the options that precarious workers (i.e., part-timers, temporary employees, and low-skilled service employees) choose regarding unemployment insurance membership and the change in union density after the Ghent system reform in Finland. First, the results show that the growth of the independent unemployment…

Personality, occupational sorting and routine work

2020

PurposeA prominent labour market feature in recent decades has been the increase in abstract and service jobs, while the demand for routine work has declined. This article examines whether the components of Type A behaviour predict workers' selection into non-routine abstract, non-routine service and routine jobs.Design/methodology/approachBuilding on the work by Barrick et al. (2013), this article first presents how the theory of purposeful work behaviour can be used to explain how individuals with different levels of Type A components sort into abstract, service and routine jobs. Then, using longitudinal data, it examines whether the components of Type A behaviour predict occupational sor…

Self-reported health versus biomarkers: does unemployment lead to worse health?

2020

Abstract Objectives This paper examines the relationship between unemployment and health using both subjective and biometric information on health status. Study design Longitudinal panel data. Methods We compare the results of regressions of unemployment on self-reported health with those of regressions of unemployment on health as measured with biomarkers (hypertension and levels of blood glucose and C-reactive protein). Using the panel structure of our data, we account for selection bias with respect to unemployment by controlling for health before exposure to unemployment. Results We observe a striking pattern. Using self-reported health as the outcome variable, we find a link between un…

Effect of Information Intervention on Prescribing Practice for Neuropathic Pain in Older Patients : A Nationwide Register-Based Study

2023

Introduction Management of prescription medicines is challenging for older patients due to frail health and the prevalence of multiple chronic conditions. A salient policy challenge of prescribing practices is that all physicians are not well informed about the national clinical guidelines. A feasible policy intervention to mitigate the harms caused by Potentially Inappropriate Medications is to influence the frequency of prescribing and other prescribing attributes of the drugs by providing accurate and up-to-date information about the national clinical guidelines. Objectives The objective of this study was to examine the effect of a nationwide information intervention on physicians’ presc…

Gene-environment interactions between education and body mass: Evidence from the UK and Finland

2017

More education is associated with a lower body mass index (BMI) and likelihood of being overweight. However, since a large proportion of the variation in body mass is due to genetic makeup, it has been hypothesized that education may moderate the genetic risk. We estimate main associations between (i) education, (ii) genetic risk, and (iii) interactions between education and genetic risk on BMI and the probability of being overweight in the UK and Finland. The estimates show that education is negatively associated with BMI and overweightness, and genetic risk is positively associated. However, the interactions between education and genetic risk are small and statistically insignificant. pee…

Moving to become healthier?

2020

This paper examines individuals’ health and whether it improves when individuals move from a region with poorer health on average to a region with better health on average. We used data from Finland, which is a country with large regional differences in health behaviours and outcomes. We found no evidence that moving from a less healthy region to a healthier region would have any significant effect on the health of individuals who move compared with the health of other individuals. We also examined the potential heterogeneity in the analysed relationships. We found evidence of a relationship between moving itself and health improvements, but this generally true only for our subsample of ind…

Harsh times: do stressors lead to labor market losses?

2018

This paper examines the links between stressful life events and labor market outcomes. We use twin data for Finnish men and women combined with register-based individual information on earnings, employment and social income transfers. The twin data allow us to account for shared environmental and genetic confounders. We measure the exposure to stressful life events in 1990. The labor market outcomes are measured during a 20-year follow-up over the period 1990–2009. Three findings stand out. First, stressors lead to worse labor market outcomes. Second, both men and women are distressed by labor market shocks, but they respond differently to marital problems and health shocks within the famil…

Mental disorders and long-term labour market outcomes : nationwide cohort study of 2 055 720 individuals

2019

Objective: To examine the associations between an onset of serious mental disorders before the age of 25 with subsequent employment, income, and education outcomes. Methods: Nationwide cohort study including individuals (n=2 055 720) living in Finland between 1963 and 1990, who were alive at the end of the year they turned 25. Mental disorder diagnosis between ages 15 and 25 was used as the exposure. The level of education, employment status, annual wage or self‐employment earnings, and annual total income between ages 25 and 52 (measurement years 1988‐2015) were used as the outcomes. Results: All serious mental disorders were associated with increased risk of not being employed and not hav…

Does education protect against depression? Evidence from the Young Finns Study using Mendelian randomization

2018

Using participants (N = 1733) drawn from the nationally representative longitudinal Young Finns Study (YFS) we estimate the effect of education on depressive symptoms. In 2007, when the participants were between 30 and 45 years old, they reported their depressive symptoms using a revised version of Beck's Depression Inventory. Education was measured using register information on the highest completed level of education in 2007, which was converted to years of education. To identify a causal relationship between education and depressive symptoms we use an instrumental variables approach (Mendelian randomization, MR) with a genetic risk score as an instrument for years of education. The genet…

Determinants of prescription opioid use: population‐based evidence from Finland

2019

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Previous studies have shown that prescription opioid use is more common in socio-economically disadvantaged communities in the United States. This study examined the area and individual-level determinants of prescription opioid use in Finland during the period 1995-2016. DESIGN Logistic regression analysis using nation-wide data on filled opioid-related prescriptions dispensed at Finnish pharmacies and covered by National Health Insurance. Opioid consumption was linked, using personal identification codes, to population-based data maintained by Statistics Finland, which records individual background and area-level characteristics. SETTING AND PARTICIPANTS Working-age pop…

Depressive symptoms and long-term income: The Young Finns Study

2016

Abstract Background Higher depressive symptoms have been associated with lower future income. However, studies examining this issue have had limited follow-up times and have used self-reported measures of income. Also, possible confounders or mediators have not been accounted. Methods 971 women and 738 men were selected from the ongoing prospective Young Finns Study (YFS) that began in 1980. Depressive symptoms were measured in 1992 when participants were from 15 to 30 years old. Information on annual income and earnings from 1993 to 2010 were obtained from the Finnish Longitudinal Employer-Employee Data (FLEED) of Statistics Finland and linked to the YFS. Results Higher depressive symptoms…

Creatine and entrepreneurship

2016

Creatine is a nitrogenous organic acid which supplies energy to body cells and enhances physical performance. Using the Young Finns Study combined with the Finnish Linked employer-employee data we show that quantities of creatine measured in 1980 prior to labour market entry affect entrepreneurial success as measured by capital income accumulation over the period 1993–2010 (in particular for females). However, we do not find evidence that creatine affects the propensity to become an entrepreneur. Our study contributes to the emerging literature on biomarkers and entrepreneurship. peerReviewed

Seniority rules, worker mobility and wages : evidence from multi-country linked employer-employee data

2018

We construct multi-country employer-employee data to examine the consequences of last-in, first-out rules. We identify the effects by comparing worker exit rates between different units of the same firms operating in Sweden and Finland, two countries that have different seniority rules. We observe a relatively lower exit rate for more senior workers in Sweden in the shrinking firms and among the low-wage workers. These empirical patterns are consistent with last-in, first-out rules in Sweden providing protection from dismissals for the more senior workers among the worker groups to whom the rules are most relevant. Similarly, we observe a steeper seniority-wage profile in Sweden, suggesting…

The challenges of GxE research: A rejoinder

2017

More skilled, better paid : labour-market returns to postsecondary vocational education

2017

Outside the USA, relatively little is known about the labour-market returns to postsecondary vocational (or polytechnic) education. Yet, polytechnics in Europe are distinct from US community colleges. This paper focuses on the labour-market returns to polytechnic attendance in Finland, where polytechnics are representative of many European countries. Using matching methods and longitudinal administrative data, we find that, compared to individuals with no postsecondary education, students who attend polytechnics have higher annual earnings of €3,300 to €3,700 and employment gains of 2.5 to 6.6 percentage points 10 years after the entry decision. However, the returns vary by personal charact…

Presenteeism in Economic Research

2018

Change is a constant ingredient of modern work life. Thus, job demands and the complexity of job tasks that workers are required to accomplish and perform in everyday work are increasing in organizations and firms. Increasing job demands and incessant changes may be stressful, at least for certain employees, and cause significant and long-lasting health effects as well. Most individuals spend a substantial portion of their total time at work. Thus, work-related behaviours have significant spillover effects on other aspects of life. For these reasons, work-related sickness is also a particularly important aspect of employee well-being from the broader economic perspective. peerReviewed

Ammattikorkeakoulut, työmarkkinat ja muuttoliike

2019

Did the Finnish depression of the early 1990s have a silver lining? : The effect of unemployment on long-term physical activity

2022

This paper studies the impact of long-term unemployment on physical activity. We examined the effects 6 and 15 years following a severe business cycle downturn in Finland over the period 1991–1994. The study sample comprised residents of Northern Finland. The unemployed individuals were 23–26 years old during the downturn. Physical activity, measured by MET minutes and meeting WHO guidelines, was higher 15 years later among those people who experienced the longest periods of unemployment in 1991–1994. Physical activity was somewhat lower among people with relatively shorter periods of unemployment. peerReviewed

Mielenterveys terveyspolitiikan keskiöön

2019

Do childhood infections affect labour market outcomes in adulthood and, if so, how?

2020

A burgeoning body of literature suggests that poor childhood health leads to adverse health outcomes. lower educational attainment and weaker labour market outcomes in adulthood. We focus on an important but under-researched topic, which is the role played by infection-related hospitalization (IRH) in childhood and its links to labour market outcomes later in life. The participants aged 24-30 years in 2001 N =1706 were drawn from the Young Finns Study, which includes comprehensive registry data on IRHs in childhood at ages 0-18 years. These data are linked to longitudinal registry information on labour market outcomes (2001-2012) and parental background (1980). The estimations were performe…

The effect of education on migration: evidence from school reform

2010

A polytechnic, higher education reform took place in Finland in the 1990s. It gradually transformed former vocational colleges into polytechnics and expanded higher education to all Finnish regions. We implement instrumental variables estimators that exploit the exogenous variation in the regional availability of polytechnic education together with matriculation exam scores. Our IV results show that polytechnic graduates have a higher migration probability than those of vocational college graduates. However, a master’s degree did not increase migration propensity in comparison with a polytechnic degree. We also find that an increase in the availability of polytechnic education did not reduc…

Elinikäistä osallistumista vai elämää työ edellä? : työikäisten monialaisten palveluiden yhteensovittaminen ja vaikuttavuuden arviointi -loppuraportti

2020

Tavoitteenamme oli tuottaa kokonaiskuva hallinnonalat ja palvelujärjestelmät ylittävästä työikäisten työkyvyn ja työllistymisen tuen palveluiden kokonaisuudesta ja kuvata, miten yhteensovitettavien palveluiden tuloksellisuutta ja vaikuttavuutta voidaan arvioida. Tarkastelimme yhteensovittamista monialaisten palveluiden palveluintegraation, vaikuttavuuden arvioinnin ja systeemisen muutostarpeen ennakoinnin näkökulmista. Aineistoinamme olivat kirjallisuuskatsaukset, asiakkaiden ja asiantuntijoiden haastattelut ja kyselyt, kansalliset rekisterit ja skenaariotyöpajatyöskentely. Tulostemme mukaan työkyvyn ja työllistymisen tuen palveluiden yhteensovittaminen ja asiakkaan tarpeita vastaava palvel…

Body weight and premature retirement : population-based evidence from Finland

2021

Background Health status is a principal determinant of labour market participation. In this study, we examined whether excess weight is associated with withdrawal from the labour market owing to premature retirement. Methods The analyses were based on nationally representative data from Finland over the period 2001–15 (N ∼ 2500). The longitudinal data included objective measures of body weight (i.e. body mass index and waist circumference) linked to register-based information on actual retirement age. The association between the body weight measures and premature retirement was modelled using cubic b-splines via logistic regression. The models accounted for other possible risk factors and p…

Työolot – kadotettu avain pidempään työuraan?

2020

Artikkelissa tarkastellaan koettujen työolojen ja johtamisen merkitystä eläkkeelle siirtymiseen. Työntekijöiden kokema työn vaarallisuus ja siihen liittyvät haitat sekä alentavat ikääntyneiden työntekijöiden työtyytyväisyyttä. Tämä puolestaan aikaistaa lisääntyneiden eläkeaikomusten välityksellä havaittua eläkkeelle siirtymistä. Toisaalta uusilla johtamiskäytännöillä on päinvastainen vaikutus. Ne myöhentävät eläkkeelle siirtymistä. Tulokset perustuvat tutkimukseen, joka käyttää Tilastokeskuksen työolotutkimuksen työoloja kuvaavien muuttujien lisäksi Tilastokeskuksen ja Eläketurvakeskuksen rekisteriaineistoihin perustuvia seurantatietoja henkilöiden työmarkkina-aseman todellisista muutoksist…

Information Integration, Coordination Failures, and Quality of Prescribing

2020

Poor information flows hamper coordination, potentially leading to suboptimal decisions in health care. We examine the effects of a nationwide policy of information integration on the quality of prescribing. We use the rollout of an electronic prescribing system in Finland and prescription-level administrative data. We find no effect on the probability of co-prescribing harmful drug combinations in urban regions. In rural regions, this probability reduces substantially, by 35 percent. The effect is driven by prescriptions from unspecialized physicians and from multiple physicians. Improving the local information environment thus enhances coordination and narrows differences in the quality o…

Back to School : Labor-Market Returns to Higher Vocational Schooling

2019

This paper examines the labor-market returns to a new form of postsecondary vocational education: vocational master's degrees. We use individual fixed effects models on a matched sample of students and non-students from Finland to capture any time-invariant differences across individuals. We find that attendance in vocational master's programs leads to an earnings increase of more than seven percent five years after entry. The estimated effect remains positive even if selection on unobservables is twice as strong as selection on observables. Earnings gains are similar by gender and age, but they are marginally higher for those in the health sector than for those in the business or technolog…

The serum copper/zinc ratio in childhood and educational attainment : a population-based study

2016

Background Micronutrients are potentially important determinants of adult outcomes such as educational attainment. Copper and zinc have known effects on several medical conditions and cognitive development. Elevated copper and depressed zinc is a common trace metal imbalance. Methods We estimate the correlation between the copper/zinc ratio (Cu/Zn) in childhood (year 1980) and educational attainment in adulthood (year 2010). We use the Young Finns Study (YFS) combined with the Finnish Linked Employer-Employee Data (FLEED). The regression models account for confounders such as other biomarkers and parental observables. Results We report a sizeable, negative correlation between Cu/Zn and educ…

Personality, occupational sorting and routine work

2020

Purpose – A prominent labour market feature in recent decades has been the increase in abstract and service jobs, while the demand for routine work has declined. This article examines whether the components of Type A behaviour predict workers’ selection into nonroutine abstract, non-routine service and routine jobs. Design/methodology/approach – Building on the work by Barrick et al. (2013), this article first presents how the theory of purposeful work behaviour can be used to explain how individuals with different levels of Type A components sort into abstract, service and routine jobs. Then, using longitudinal data, it examines whether the components of Type A behaviour predict occupation…

Työhyvinvointi kannattaa : työolot, työtyytyväisyys ja tuottavuus

2020

Teollisuuden palkansaajien julkaisema Edistys - raportti Työhyvinvointi kannattaa. Työolot, työtyytyväisyys ja tuottavuus tuo esiin työhyvinvoinnin yhteiskunnallisen merkityksen. Raportin mukaan työolot vaikuttavat muun muassa työtyytyväisyyteen, yritysten tuottavuuteen sekä työurien pituuteen. Raportissa Palkansaajien tutkimuslaitoksen tutkija, Jyväskylän yliopiston terveystaloustieteen professori Petri Böckerman ja Aalto-yliopiston kauppakorkeakoulun taloustieteen emeritusprofessori Pekka Ilmakunnas ovat koonneet yksiin kansiin tuloksia tekemistään tutkimuksista, joissa on tarkasteltu työolojen vaikutuksia työhyvinvointiin, työntekijöiden poissaoloihin, vaihtuvuuteen ja eläköitymiseen sek…

Job Displacement, Inter-Regional Mobility and Long-Term Earnings

2018

We examine the effect of job displacement on regional mobility using linked employer-employee panel data for the 1995-2014 period. We also study whether displaced movers obtain earnings and employment gains compared to displaced stayers. The results show that job displacement increases the migration probability by ~70%. However, social capital in a region and housing characteristics decrease the propensity to move, indicating that people do not make the migration decisions solely based on short-term economic incentives. Migration has an immediate negative relationship with earnings, but the link diminishes as time passes and eventually turns positive for men. The link between migration and …

Labor-Market Returns to Higher Vocational Schooling

2018

This paper examines the labor-market returns to a new form of postsecondary vocational education, vocational master's degrees. We use individual fixed effects models on the matched sample of students and non-students from Finland to capture any time-invariant differences across individuals. Attendance in vocational master's programs leads to higher earnings of eight percent five years after entry even if selection on unobservables is twice as strong as selection on observables. Earnings gains are similar by gender and age, but they are marginally higher for health than for business or technology and trades. nonPeerReviewed

Determinants of Prescription Opioid Use : Population‐Based Evidence from Finland

2021

Background and aims Previous studies have shown that prescription opioid use is more common in the socioeconomically disadvantaged communities in the US. This study examined the area and individual‐level determinants of prescription opioid use in Finland during the period 1995‐2016. Design Logistic regression analysis using nationwide data on filled opioid‐related prescriptions dispensed at Finnish pharmacies and covered by the National Health Insurance. Opioid consumption was linked, using personal identification codes, to population‐based data maintained by Statistics Finland, which records individual background and area‐level characteristics. Setting and participants Working‐age populati…

Työttömyys kirvoittaa muuttokaravaanit liikkeelle

2021

Artikkelissa tarkastellaan työmarkkinoiden joustavuuteen ja työvoiman liikkuvuuteen vaikuttavia taustatekijöitä Suomessa. Tutkimustulokset perustuvat Tilastokeskuksen kansallisesti edustavaan rekisteriaineistoon. Tulokset osoittavat, että työpaikan menettäminen kasvattaa merkittävästi (noin 50 prosenttia) muuttamisen todennäköisyyttä. Toisaalta osa työttömistä jää asumaan korkean työttömyyden alueille. Asuntojen korkeat hinnat ja toisaalta asuntomarkkinoiden heikko likviditeetti heikentävät muuttovirtoja ja työmarkkinoiden sopeutumista kohti matalamman työttömyyden tasapainoa. nonPeerReviewed

AMK-tutkinto – avain menestymiseen työmarkkinoilla?

2020

Artikkelissa tarkastellaan ammattikorkeakoulututkintojen vaikutuksia yksilöiden menestymiseen työmarkkinoilla. Tulokset perustuvat Tilastokeskuksen keräämiin kattaviin rekisteritietoihin työllisyydestä ja ansiotasosta. Tarkastelun perusteella AMK-tutkinnot parantavat merkittävästi ansiotasoa. Tämä koskee sekä alempia että ylempiä ammattikorkeakoulututkintoja. AMK-tutkinnon suorittaneet ovat hyötyneet tutkinnoistaan tuntuvasti korkeamman ansiotason muodossa – myös silloin, kun tutkinto on suoritettu vanhemmalla iällä. nonPeerReviewed

Do good working conditions make you work longer? Analyzing retirement decisions using linked survey and register data

2020

We analyzed the role of adverse working conditions and new management practices in the determination of employees’ retirement behavior. The combined data contain both comprehensive information on perceived job disamenities, job satisfaction, and intentions to retire from two nationally representative cross-sectional surveys and information on employees’ actual retirement decisions from longitudinal register data that can be linked to the surveys. Using a trivariate ordered probit model, we find that job dissatisfaction arising from adverse working conditions is significantly related to intentions to retire and that this, in turn, is related to actual retirement during an extensive follow-up…

Sustainable Working Life in a Swedish Twin Cohort : A Definition Paper with Sample Overview

2021

Background: A unified or consensus definition of “sustainable working life” remains lacking, although studies investigating risk factors for labour market exit are numerous. In this study, we aimed (1) to update the information and to explore a definition of “sustainable working life” via a systematic literature review and (2) to describe the working life trajectories via the prevalence of sickness absence (SA), disability pension (DP), and unemployment in a Swedish twin cohort to provide a sample overview in our Sustainable Working Life-project. Methods: A systematic literature review was conducted to explore the studies with the search phrase “sustainable working life” in PubMed, PsycInfo…

Terveyskäyttäytyminen ja työmarkkinamenestys : mitä geenit kertovat

2019

Terveys vaikuttaa monella tavalla yksilön hyvinvointiin. Geneettiset aineistot mahdollistavat tutkimusasetelmat, joiden avulla voidaan tarkastella terveyden ja terveyskäyttäytymisen vaikutuksia työmarkkina-asemaan kuten ansiotasoon. Lisäksi geneettisiä tietoja hyödyntäen on tutkittu, voidaanko esimerkiksi koulutuksella vaikuttaa terveyskäyttäytymiseen. Tutkimuksissa on vahvistettu ylipainon vaikuttavan negatiivisesti menestykseen työmarkkinoilla. Tämän lisäksi tutkimuksissa on kyetty arvioimaan koulutuksen suojaavaa vaikutusta terveyteen. Geenitietojen käyttö taloustieteellisessä tutkimuksessa on vasta alkumetreillä. nonPeerReviewed

Terveys ja työmarkkinamenestys

2019

Tässä katsausartikkelissa tarkastellaan terveysongelmien ja riskihakuisen terveyskäyttäytymisen yhteyttä hen- kilön työmarkkinamenestykseen ja työuraan. Tutkimuksissa on tarkasteltu riskihakuisen terveyskäyttäytymisen yhteyksiä paitsi ansiokehityksen, myös yleisemmin työelämään kiinnittymisen näkökulmasta. Tutkimusten perusteella alkoholin liikakäyttö, tupakointi, liikkumattomuus ja ylipaino ovat yhteydessä heikompaan menes- tykseen työmarkkinoilla. Riskihakuisen terveyskäyttäytymisen negatiiviset työmarkkinavaikutukset tulisi huo- mioida pohdittaessa panostuksia terveydenhuoltojärjestelmään ja toisaalta arvioitaessa järjestelmään tehtäviä muutoksia. peerReviewed

Losing a Job and (Dis)incentives to Move

2020

Tässä tutkimuksessa tarkastellaan työpaikan menettämisen ja muiden taloudellisten ja ei-taloudellisten kannustimien vaikutuksia alueelliseen muuttoliikkeeseen. Käytämme yhdistettyä työnantaja-työntekijäaineistoa sekä tietoja alueellisista asuntomarkkinoista. Työpaikan menettäneillä tarkoitamme heitä, jotka menettävät työpaikkansa toimipaikan sulkemisen tai joukkoirtisanomisen takia. Työpaikan menetys lisää henkilön muuttoalttiutta noin 80 prosentilla. Työpaikan menettäneet näyttäisivätkin reagoivan taloudellisiin kannustimiin, sillä alhainen oletettu palkkataso ja korkeat asuntojen hinnat alueella ovat yhteydessä lisääntyneeseen muuttoalttiuteen alueelta, josta henkilö on jäänyt työttömäksi…

School Tracking and Mental Health

2019

We examine the effects of a comprehensive school reform on mental health. The reform postponed the tracking of students into vocational and academic schools from age 11 to age 16. The reform was implemented gradually across Finnish municipalities between 1972 and 1977. We use difference-in-differences variation and administrative data. Our results show that there is no discernible effect on mental health related hospitalizations on average even though the effect is precisely estimated. Heterogeneity analysis shows that, after the reform, females from highly-educated families were more likely to be hospitalized for depression. nonPeerReviewed

Early Health, Risk Aversion and Stock Market Participation

2019

To examine the relationship between early health status and financial decisions in adulthood, we link information on birth weight in 1966 from the Northern Finland Birth Cohort to data from the Finnish Central Securities Depository over the period of 19952010. We find that persons predisposed to poor health status in early childhood (indicated by low birth weight) avoid participating in the stock market in adulthood. The link between birth weight and stock market participation is partially explained by the fact that poor early health status leads to risk aversion. Early health status is not significantly related to the portfolio’s value-growth tilt. nonPeerReviewed

Alcohol Consumption and Long-Term Labor Market Outcomes

2017

This paper examines whether alcohol consumption is related to long-term labor market outcomes. We use twin data for Finnish men and women matched to register-based individual information on employment and earnings. The twin data allow us to account for the shared environmental and genetic factors. The quantity of alcohol consumption was measured by weekly average consumption using self-reported data from three surveys (1975, 1981 and 1990). The average of an individual's employment months and earnings were measured in adulthood over the period 1990–2009. The models that account for the shared environmental and genetic factors reveal that former drinkers and heavy drinkers both have almost 2…

Birth weight, adult weight, and cardiovascular biomarkers : Evidence from the Cardiovascular Young Finns Study

2021

This study quantifies the causal effect of birth weight on cardiovascular biomarkers in adulthood using the Cardiovascular Risk in Young Finns Study (YFS). We apply a multivariable Mendelian randomization (MVMR) method that provides a novel approach to improve inference in causal analysis based on a mediation framework. The results show that birth weight is linked to triglyceride levels (β = −0.294; 95% CI [−0.591, 0.003]) but not to low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol levels (β = 0.007; 95% CI [−0.168, 0.183]). The total effect of birth weight on triglyceride levels is partly offset by a mediation pathway linking birth weight to adult BMI (β = 0.111; 95% CI [−0.013, 0.234]). The nega…

Ammattien tehtäväsisältöjen yhteys niiden palkkojen ja työllisyyden muutoksiin Suomessa

2018

Sustainable Working Life Patterns in a Swedish Twin Cohort : Age-Related Sequences of Sickness Absence, Disability Pension, Unemployment, and Prematu…

2022

We aimed to investigate sustainable working life via age-related sequences of sickness absence (SA), disability pension (DP), unemployment (UE), premature death, and the influence of individual characteristics, accounting for familial confounding. The sample included monozygotic (MZ) and dizygotic (DZ) same-sexed twin pairs with register data (n = 47,450) that were followed for 10 years in four age cohorts: 26–35 (n = 9892), 36–45 (n = 10,620), 46–55 (n = 12,964) and 56–65 (n = 13,974). A sequence analysis was done in a 7-element state space: 1. “Sustainable working life”: SA/DP 0–30 days and UE 0–90 days; 2. “Unemployment >90 days”: SA/DP 0–30 days and UE > 90 days; 3. “Moderate SA/DP”: SA…

The challenges of GxE research : A rejoinder

2017

Domain-Specific Risk and Public Policy

2018

We develop a method to estimate domain-specific risk. We apply the method to sickness insurance by fitting a utility function at the individual level, using European survey data on life satisfaction. Three results stand out. First, relative risk aversion increases with income. Second, marginal utility is higher in the sick state conditional on income, due to an observed fixed cost of sickness. Third, the domain-specificity of risk shifts the focus on the smoothing of utility, not consumption. The optimal policy rule implies that the replacement rates should be non-linear and decrease with income. nonPeerReviewed

Additional file 1 of Genetic basis of STEM occupational choice and regional economic performance: a UK biobank genome-wide association study

2023

Additional file 1. Supplemental tables and figures.

PT Policy Brief : Koronakriisin ja sen hillitsemiseksi asetettujen rajoitusten talousvaikutuksista

2020

Tähän PT Policy Briefiin on koottu eri lähteistä tietoa ja omia laskelmia koronakriisin toistaiseksi aiheuttamista talousvaikutuksista. Tarkastelun keskiössä ovat rajoitustoimet koronaviruksen aiheuttaman taudin hillitsemiseksi, jotka samalla aiheuttavat suuria hyvinvointitappioita. Kyse näissä tappioissa ei ole pelkästään rahasta, vaan esimerkiksi aiemmat syvät taloustaantumat ovat aiheuttaneet niin ikään esimerkiksi kansalaisten selkeästi huonontuneen terveyden. Tilannekuva on, että koronakriisin aiheuttama taantuma esimerkiksi mitattuna lomautettujen lukumäärällä on ollut poikkeuksellisen nopea verrattuna vuoden 2009 finanssikriisiin. Esittelemme mallin, jonka avulla hahmotellaan, että l…