"The Effects of Broadband Expansion on Mental Health"
Summary: This project studies the effect of work-related ICT use at home on workers' mental well-being. Our empirical strategy exploits a technological feature of the telecommunication infrastructure that generated substantial variation in the availability and quality of Internet access across Belgian households in the early 2000s: the distance of a household from a network node determined internet access and speed. We merge information about the network topology with geocoded longitudinal data from the Belgian Crossroads Bank for Social Security (CBSS), a rich collection of administrative microdata that collects information on Belgian workers’ labor market trajectories and basic demographics. This project will contribute to a broader understanding of the upward trend in work related illnesses —burnout and chronic stress—and their role in the expansion of disability insurance programs.
[This project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Sklodowska-Curie grant agreement No 101027302]
Working paper coming soon!