IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecmode/v28y2011i1p22-26.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Testing the hypothesis of the natural suicide rates: Further evidence from OECD data

Author

Listed:
  • Andrés, Antonio Rodríguez
  • Halicioglu, Ferda

Abstract

This paper provides further evidence on the hypothesis of the natural rate of suicide using the time series data for 15 OECD countries over the period 1970–2004. This hypothesis suggests that the suicide rate of a society could never be zero even if both the economic and the social conditions were made ideal from the point of view of suicide (Yang and Lester, 1991). This research relates the suicide rates to harmonized unemployment and divorce rates to test the natural hypothesis statistically. We also address methodological flaws by earlier suicide studies by employing autoregressive-distributed lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration advocated by Pesaran et al. (2001). In majority of regression equations, the constant term was positive and statistically significant, indicating a non-zero natural suicide rate. In particular, we find evidence that at aggregate level, Turkey has the lowest (3.64) and Japan has the highest (13.98) natural rate of suicides. In terms of the male natural suicide rates, the United Kingdom ranks the lowest (4.73) and Belgium ranks the top (15.44). As for the female natural suicide rates, Japan takes the lead (16.76) and Italy has the lowest (5.60). The results are also compared and contrasted to each other with a view to drawing plausible policy conclusions.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrés, Antonio Rodríguez & Halicioglu, Ferda, 2011. "Testing the hypothesis of the natural suicide rates: Further evidence from OECD data," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(1), pages 22-26.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:28:y:2011:i:1:p:22-26
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econmod.2010.10.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264999310002075
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econmod.2010.10.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kremers, Jeroen J M & Ericsson, Neil R & Dolado, Juan J, 1992. "The Power of Cointegration Tests," Oxford Bulletin of Economics and Statistics, Department of Economics, University of Oxford, vol. 54(3), pages 325-348, August.
    2. M. Hashem Pesaran & Yongcheol Shin & Richard J. Smith, 2001. "Bounds testing approaches to the analysis of level relationships," Journal of Applied Econometrics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(3), pages 289-326.
    3. Bijou Yang & David Lester, 2009. "Is there a natural suicide rate?," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 16(2), pages 137-140.
    4. M. Bahmani-Oskooee & Gour Goswami, 2003. "A disaggregated approach to test the J-Curve phenomenon: Japan versus her major trading partners," Journal of Economics and Finance, Springer;Academy of Economics and Finance, vol. 27(1), pages 102-113, March.
    5. Brenner, M. Harvey & Mooney, Anne, 1983. "Unemployment and health in the context of economic change," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 17(16), pages 1125-1138, January.
    6. Engle, Robert & Granger, Clive, 2015. "Co-integration and error correction: Representation, estimation, and testing," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 39(3), pages 106-135.
    7. Antonio Rodriguez Andres, 2005. "Income inequality, unemployment, and suicide: a panel data analysis of 15 European countries," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(4), pages 439-451.
    8. Paresh Kumar Narayan, 2005. "The saving and investment nexus for China: evidence from cointegration tests," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 37(17), pages 1979-1990.
    9. John Helliwell, 2007. "Well-Being and Social Capital: Does Suicide Pose a Puzzle?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 81(3), pages 455-496, May.
    10. Mohsen Bahmani-Oskooee & Zohre Ardalani, 2006. "Exchange Rate Sensitivity of U.S. Trade Flows: Evidence from Industry Data," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 72(3), pages 542-559, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Marko Korhonen & Mikko Puhakka & Matti Viren, 2017. "Economic hardship and suicides," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 44(10), pages 1348-1360, October.
    2. Izunna Anyikwa & Nicolene Haaman & Andrew Phiri, 2018. "Persistence of suicides in G20 countries: SPSM approach to three generations of unit root tests," Working Papers 1825, Department of Economics, Nelson Mandela University.
    3. Ferda Halicioglu & Natalya Ketenci, 2018. "Testing the productivity bias hypothesis in Middle East countries," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 45(5), pages 922-931, October.
    4. Halicioglu, Ferda & Ketenci, Natalya, 2018. "Output, renewable and non-renewable energy production, and international trade: Evidence from EU-15 countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 995-1002.
    5. Halicioglu, Ferda & Yolac, Sema, 2015. "Testing the impact of unemployment on self-employment: empirical evidence from OECD countries," MPRA Paper 65026, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Sovannroeun Samreth, 2015. "An Estimation of the Money Demand Function in Cambodia," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 35(4), pages 2625-2636.
    7. Ferda Halıcıoğlu & Kasım Eren, 2017. "Testing Twin Deficits and Saving-Investment Nexus in Turkey," Yildiz Social Science Review, Yildiz Technical University, vol. 3(1), pages 35-46.
    8. Botha, Ferdi & Nguyen, Viet H., 2022. "Opposite nonlinear effects of unemployment and sentiment on male and female suicide rates: Evidence from Australia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    9. Collins, Alan & Fan, Jingwen & Mahabir, Aruneema, 2022. "Actual versus ‘natural’ rates of suicide: Evidence from the USA," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    10. Mitch Kunce, 2022. "A 'Natural' Suicide Rate, Hysteresis or Suicide Persistence? Evidence from U.S. State-Level Panel Data, 1980-2020," Journal of Statistical and Econometric Methods, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 11(2), pages 1-2.
    11. Okada, Keisuke & Samreth, Sovannroeun, 2013. "A study on the socio-economic determinants of suicide: Evidence from 13 European OECD countries," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 78-85.
    12. Nikolaos Antonakakis & Rangan Gupta, 2017. "Is Economic Policy Uncertainty Related to Suicide Rates? Evidence from the United States," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 133(2), pages 543-560, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Halicioglu, Ferda & Yolac, Sema, 2015. "Testing the impact of unemployment on self-employment: empirical evidence from OECD countries," MPRA Paper 65026, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. Andrés, Antonio R. & Halicioglu, Ferda, 2010. "Determinants of suicides in Denmark: Evidence from time series data," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(2-3), pages 263-269, December.
    3. Abdorreza Soleymani & Soo Y. Chua, 2014. "Effect of exchange rate volatility on industry trade flows between Malaysia and China," The Journal of International Trade & Economic Development, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 23(5), pages 626-655, August.
    4. 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.
    5. Muhammad Shahbaz & Pervaz Azim & Khalil Ahmad, 2011. "Exports-Led Growth Hypothesis in Pakistan: Further Evidence," Asian Economic and Financial Review, Asian Economic and Social Society, vol. 1(3), pages 182-197.
    6. Dergiades, Theologos & Tsoulfidis, Lefteris, 2008. "Estimating residential demand for electricity in the United States, 1965-2006," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 30(5), pages 2722-2730, September.
    7. Halicioglu, Ferda & Ketenci, Natalya, 2015. "The impact of international trade on environmental quality in transition countries: evidence from time series data during 1991-2013," MPRA Paper 71097, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 2015.
    8. Loi, Tian Sheng Allan & Loo, Soh Leng, 2016. "The impact of Singapore’s residential electricity conservation efforts and the way forward. Insights from the bounds testing approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 735-743.
    9. Arize, Augustine C., 2017. "A convenient method for the estimation of ARDL parameters and test statistics: USA trade balance and real effective exchange rate relation," International Review of Economics & Finance, Elsevier, vol. 50(C), pages 75-84.
    10. Ferda Halicioglu, 2010. "An Econometric Analysis of the Aggregate Outbound Tourism Demand of Turkey," Tourism Economics, , vol. 16(1), pages 83-97, March.
    11. Salah A. Nusair, 2017. "The J-Curve phenomenon in European transition economies: A nonlinear ARDL approach," International Review of Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 1-27, January.
    12. Mohsen Bahmani-Oskooee & Ali Kutan, 2009. "The J-curve in the emerging economies of Eastern Europe," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 41(20), pages 2523-2532.
    13. Boutabba, Mohamed Amine, 2014. "The impact of financial development, income, energy and trade on carbon emissions: Evidence from the Indian economy," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 40(C), pages 33-41.
    14. Phouphet Kyophilavong & Gazi Salah Uddin & Muhammad Shahbaz, 2016. "The Nexus between Financial Development and Economic Growth in Lao PDR," Global Business Review, International Management Institute, vol. 17(2), pages 303-317, April.
    15. Mohsen Bahmani-Oskooee & Hanafiah Harvey, 2010. "The J-curve: Malaysia versus her major trading partners," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 42(9), pages 1067-1076.
    16. Ademola Obafemi Young, 2019. "Growth Impacts of Income Inequality: Empirical Evidence From Nigeria," Research in World Economy, Research in World Economy, Sciedu Press, vol. 10(3), pages 226-262, December.
    17. Tuck Cheong Tang, 2008. "Money demand function for Southeast Asian countries," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing, vol. 34(6), pages 476-496, January.
    18. A. Nurul Hossain & Syed Hasanuzzaman, 2013. "Remittances and investment nexus in Bangladesh: an ARDL bounds testing approach," International Review of Economics, Springer;Happiness Economics and Interpersonal Relations (HEIRS), vol. 60(4), pages 387-407, December.
    19. Halicioglu, Ferda, 2009. "An econometric study of CO2 emissions, energy consumption, income and foreign trade in Turkey," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(3), pages 1156-1164, March.
    20. Jayaraman, T.K. & Choong, Chee-Keong, 2009. "Growth and oil price: A study of causal relationships in small Pacific Island countries," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 37(6), pages 2182-2189, June.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Natural rate of suicides; Cointegration; Time series; OECD;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:28:y:2011:i:1:p:22-26. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/inca/30411 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.