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Do downturns cause desperation? The effect of economic conditions on suicide rates in Canada

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  • Emmanuelle Pi鲡rd
  • Paul Grootendorst

Abstract

There is conflicting evidence concerning the impact of macroeconomic conditions on suicide rates. To help resolve this pertinent question, we present evidence using Canadian data. We estimate feasible generalized least squares models of annual gender-specific suicide rates in the working age population (aged 25--64) using data from each of the 10 Canadian provinces over the period 1982 to 2007. We allow for heteroscedasticity across provinces and first-order autocorrelation common to all provinces. We posit that suicide rates in this population are a function of macroeconomic conditions (current and lagged unemployment rates and real per capita GDP) and other determinants that might be correlated with macro conditions, such as physician supply. We find that different factors affect suicide rates across genders and that some of the results are sensitive to the specification of the model we use and the regressors included. Generally, economic conditions affect men more than women; suicide rates are counter-cyclical and a higher supply of psychiatrists in a province is correlated with lower suicide rates.

Suggested Citation

  • Emmanuelle Pi鲡rd & Paul Grootendorst, 2014. "Do downturns cause desperation? The effect of economic conditions on suicide rates in Canada," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(10), pages 1081-1092, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:taf:applec:v:46:y:2014:i:10:p:1081-1092
    DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2013.866204
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    Cited by:

    1. Blázquez-Fernández, Carla & Lanza-León, Paloma & Cantarero-Prieto, David, 2020. "A systematic review on the suicide’s consequences of social isolation/and loneliness: a first approach to measure indirect effects of COVID-19," MPRA Paper 101188, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Eric Vaz & Richard Ross Shaker & Michael D. Cusimano & Luis Loures & Jamal Jokar Arsanjani, 2020. "Does Land Use and Landscape Contribute to Self-Harm? A Sustainability Cities Framework," Data, MDPI, vol. 5(1), pages 1-18, January.
    3. Sanna Huikari & Marko Korhonen, 2016. "The Impact of Unemployment on Well-Being: Evidence from the Regional Level Suicide Data in Finland," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 1103-1119, September.
    4. Carla Blázquez-Fernández & David Cantarero-Prieto & Marta Pascual-Sáez, 2017. "What Does It Drive the Relationship Between Suicides and Economic Conditions? New Evidence from Spain," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 130(3), pages 1087-1099, February.

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