Template-type: ReDif-Paper 1.0 
Author-Name: Le, Nga T.Q.
Author-Email: nga.le@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Author-workplace-name: UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University
Author-Name: Groot, Wim
Author-Email: wn.groot@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Author-workplace-name: TIER and CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care,
	 Maastricht University,
Author-Name: Tomini, Sonila
Author-Email: sonila.tomini@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Author-workplace-name: UNU-MERIT, Maastricht University
Author-Name: Tomini, Florian
Author-Email: 
florian.tomini@maastrichtuniversity.nl
Author-workplace-name: TIER, Maastricht University, and Amsterdam School of
	 Economics, University of Amsterdam,
Title: Effects of health insurance on labour supply: Evidence from the health care fund 
	 for the poor in Viet Nam
Abstract: The expansion of health insurance in emerging countries raises concerns 
	 about unintended negative effects of health insurance on labour supply. 
	 This paper examines the labour supply effects of the Health Care Fund 
	 for the Poor (HCFP) in Vietnam in terms of the monthly number of work 
	 hours and the probability of employment. Employing Difference-in- 
	 Differences Matching methods on the Vietnam Household Living Standard 
	 Survey 2002-2006, we show that HCFP, which aims to provide poor people 
	 and disadvantaged minority groups with free health insurance, has a 
	 positive labour supply effect in the short run. However, in the longer 
	 run, the net effect becomes negative due to the income effect. This is 
	 manifested in both average work hours per month and the probability of 
	 employment albeit the effect on the latter is statistically 
	 insignificant. Interestingly, the finding of the income effect is mainly 
	 driven by the non-poor recipients living in rural areas. This raises the 
	 question of targeting strategy of the programme to avoid unintended 
	 labour supply distortion.
Keywords: health insurance, human resources, labour supply, health care funding,
	welfare, Vietnam
Classification-JEL: I13, J22, O15
Series: UNU-MERIT Working Papers
Creation-Date: 20171204
Number: 2017-050
File-URL: https://unu-merit.nl/publications/wppdf/2017/wp2017-050.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
File-Size: 275 kb
Handle: RePEc:unm:unumer:2017050