Abstract
Uncertainty exists regarding the direction and magnitude of the association between cannabis use and labor market outcomes. Using panel data from waves 1 and 2 of the National Epidemiological Survey of Alcohol and Related Conditions, the current paper estimates the associations between several patterns of cannabis use during the past year, current employment, and annual personal income. In the single-equation models (wave 2 data), nearly all patterns of cannabis use are significantly associated with worse labor market outcomes (p < 0.05). However, when using fixed-effects techniques to address unobserved and time-invariant individual heterogeneity, the estimates are generally smaller in magnitude and less likely to be statistically significant vis-à-vis the benchmark estimates. These findings suggest that unobserved individual heterogeneity is an important source of bias in models of cannabis use and labor market outcomes. Moreover, cannabis use may be less detrimental in the labor market than other studies have reported.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Pages (from-to) | 185-202 |
| Number of pages | 18 |
| Journal | The journal of behavioral health services & research |
| Volume | 41 |
| Issue number | 2 |
| DOIs | |
| State | Published - Apr 1 2014 |
Funding
Financial assistance for this study was provided by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (R01 AA015695) and the National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01 DA018645). The sponsors had no involvement in the study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of the data; in the writing of the report; and in the decision to submit the paper for publication.
ASJC Scopus Subject Areas
- Health(social science)
- Health Policy
- Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Keywords
- illicit drug
- personal income
- labor market outcome
- wage premium
- cannabis user
Disciplines
- Health Policy
- Public Health