This study estimates the causal effect of paid vacation on health. Using register data on the universe of central government employees in Sweden, I exploit an age-based rule stipulated in the collective agreement covering these employees. I achieve identification by combining a regression discontinuity with a difference-in-differences design to control for time-invariant differences between consecutive birth cohorts and isolate the true effect at two separate discontinuities at ages 30 and 40. The main results indicate that an increase of three paid vacation days at age 30 and four days at age 40 do not cause significant changes in health, as proxied by visits to specialized outpatient care, inpatient admissions, and long-term sick leaves. These findings challenge the anecdotal view of additional paid vacation days as an adequate means to improve workers’ health.

这项研究估计带薪休假对健康的因果关系。通过使用瑞典中央政府雇员群体的注册数据，我利用了涵盖这些雇员的集体协议中规定的基于年龄的规则。我通过将回归不连续性与差异差异设计相结合来控制连续出生队列之间的时不变差异，并在30岁和40岁时在两个单独的不连续性处分离出真实的影响，从而实现了识别。主要结果表明，在30岁时的三个带薪休假日和40岁时的四天，不会造成健康的明显变化，这需要通过专门门诊，住院和长期病假的就诊来实现。