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Socioeconomic Factors and Suicide Rates at Large-unit Aggregate Levels: A Comment

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  • Eric Neumayer

    (Department of Geography and Environment, London School of Economics and Political Science, Houghton Street, London, WC2A 2AE, UK, e.neumayer@lse.ac.uk)

Abstract

Can socioeconomic factors seemingly explain variation in suicide rates at large-unit aggregate levels only due to an ecological fallacy? This is what Kunce and Anderson (2002) suggest based on fixed-effects estimation of US state suicide rates, in which they find little evidence that socioeconomic factors matter. This paper demonstrates that this result does not hold true for other large-unit aggregate levels in an analysis of suicide at the cross-national level. It is found that many socioeconomic factors have a statistically significant impact. It is concluded that sociological and economic theories explaining variation in suicide rates at the large-unit aggregate level with the help of aggregate socioeconomic factors cannot simply be dismissed because of an alleged ecological fallacy.

Suggested Citation

  • Eric Neumayer, 2003. "Socioeconomic Factors and Suicide Rates at Large-unit Aggregate Levels: A Comment," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 40(13), pages 2769-2776, December.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:urbstu:v:40:y:2003:i:13:p:2769-2776
    DOI: 10.1080/0042098032000191029
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Brainerd, Elizabeth, 2001. "Economic reform and mortality in the former Soviet Union: A study of the suicide epidemic in the 1990s," European Economic Review, Elsevier, vol. 45(4-6), pages 1007-1019, May.
    2. Hamermesh, Daniel S & Soss, Neal M, 1974. "An Economic Theory of Suicide," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(1), pages 83-98, Jan.-Feb..
    3. Heckman, James, 2013. "Sample selection bias as a specification error," Applied Econometrics, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration (RANEPA), vol. 31(3), pages 129-137.
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