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Economic hardship and suicides

Author

Listed:
  • Korhonen Marko

    (Department of Economics, University of Oulu)

  • Puhakka Mikko

    (Department of Economics, University of Oulu)

  • Viren Matti

    (Department of Economics, University of Turku)

Abstract
We investigate the determinants of aggregate suicides in 15 OECD countries during 1960 – 2010 using an economic model where changes in welfare constitute the propagation mechanism for suicide. In the model we assume that agents have habits in terms of their (level of) consumption. The relationship between actual consumption to this level of habit consumption provides us a hardship index which is the key variable in the empirical application. In this application, we compute the index for all sample countries and test whether we can predict changes in suicide with this index. The performance of this index is remarkably good. In practical terms, this means that at least some fraction of suicides is related to the well-being of individual agents. This is certainly consistent with most of the earlier research results. The novelty of our paper is, however, that we can explain changes in suicide with this single index that corresponds to a basic economic decision rule. Moreover, the results are strikingly robust in terms of the various control variables that have been suggested or used in previous empirical analyses.

Suggested Citation

  • Korhonen Marko & Puhakka Mikko & Viren Matti, 2015. "Economic hardship and suicides," Discussion Papers 105, Aboa Centre for Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:tkk:dpaper:dp105
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Hall, Robert E, 1978. "Stochastic Implications of the Life Cycle-Permanent Income Hypothesis: Theory and Evidence," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 86(6), pages 971-987, December.
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    17. Marko Korhonen & Mikko Puhakka & Matti Viren, 2016. "Economic hardship and suicide mortality in Finland, 1875–2010," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 17(2), pages 129-137, March.
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    Cited by:

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    2. Şenol Demirci & Murat Konca & Birol Yetim & Gülnur İlgün, 2020. "Effect of economic crisis on suicide cases: An ARDL bounds testing approach," International Journal of Social Psychiatry, , vol. 66(1), pages 34-40, February.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    suicide; habit persistence; economic hardship; Hall’s consumption function; co-integration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • D91 - Microeconomics - - Micro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on Decision Making

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