Work

Globalization and the gender gap in mental well-being

Year: 2026

Type: article

Abstract: Working with business partners in distant countries often requires operating outside standard working hours, potentially harming workers’ mental well-being—especially for women balancing professional and family responsibilities. This hypothesis is investigated using matched employer-employee data from Denmark merged with information on workers’ use of prescription antidepressants (AD) and firms’ import and export transactions. The analysis exploits variation within job spells and controls for both unobservable firm-year heterogeneity and for the average differential in annual AD use among men and women. The results indicate that a decline in the business hour overlap between a Danish firm and its foreign trading partners leads to an increased AD use among women relative to men. This effect is economically meaningful, largest for college-educated workers under 45 and more pronounced for single mothers. In addition to the gender effect, workers in occupations requiring establishing relationships with others are more strongly affected than those in other occupations.

Source: Journal of International Economics

DOI: 10.1016/j.jinteco.2026.104253

Authors: Björn Thor Arnarson, Asker Nygaard David, Beata S. Javorcik, Jakob R. Munch

Language: English

Topic: Work-Family Balance Challenges

Subfield: Sociology and Political Science

Field: Social Sciences

Domain: Social Sciences

SDGs: Decent work and economic growth, Gender equality, Reduced inequalities, Good health and well-being

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $4,300

Funder: Rockwool Fonden