The Interplay Between Mental Health and the Business Environment in Asia

Abstract

Mental health is not just a psychological issue, but it also affects Business Environment. The basic research question is to see if businesses environment and mental health have any strong relationship. We propose a model that suggests mental health depends on various factors, including mental well-being itself, economic conditions, education, physical health, and, importantly, creating new businesses. This study addresses  the  intriguing question  of  whether  starting  a  business is  beneficial  or  detrimental  to  mental health It depends on a lot of things, like how someone was feeling before, the state of the economy, their education, and even the fairness of the legal system. Our econometric model using Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) carefully takes all these factors into account to understand the bigger and novel picture of the question put forth, while taking care of the issue of endogeneity that may arise in such type of data sets. We measure our main dependent variable i.e. mental health through emotional well-being and depression, while business creation is assessed by environment, ease, clustering, skills, and worker availability. Furthermore, this groundbreaking study on a panel of Asian countries shows that income levels alone are not enough to predict mental health outcomes. Legal fairness and business-friendly environments play a surprising role in shaping mental wellness. By analyzing physical health, macroeconomic determinants, and environmental factors, the research highlights the complex interplay that affects mental health outcomes. The study's novel variables and large panel data analysis approach offer new insights into the policies and incentives that can optimize mental health outcomes for all citizens.