More income, less depression? Revisiting the nonlinear and heterogeneous relationship between income and mental health.

ABSTRACT: This paper uses a large-scale nationally representative dataset to examine the nonlinear effect of income on mental health. To investigate their causal relationship, the exogenous impact of automation on income is utilized as the instrument variable (IV). In addition, to explore their nonlinear relationship, both income and its quadratic term are included in regressions. It is found that the impact of income on mental health is U-shaped rather than linear. The turning point (7.698) of this nonlinear relation is near the midpoint of the income interval ([0, 16.113]). This suggests that depression declines as income increases at the lower-income level. However, beyond middle income, further increases in income take pronounced mental health costs, leading to a positive relationship between th

SUBMITTER: Li C 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9795204 | biostudies-literature | 2022

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature