Health and Labor Supply in the Context of HIV/AIDS: The Long-Run Economic Impacts on Antiretroviral Therapy

Harsha Thirumurthy, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Joshua Graff Zivin, University of California, San Diego

Using longitudinal survey data collected in Kenya, this paper estimates the longer-term impacts of antiretroviral therapy (ART) on the labor supply of treated adults and their household members. Building upon previous work in Kenya, data collected from 2004-2006 indicate that early evidence on the short-run impacts of ART tends to be upheld over the long-term as well. The results show that the labor supply response among treated adults occurs rapidly and is sustained through the 3-year observation period in our study. These results underscore the strong relationship between health and labor supply that has been observed in other contexts.