IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/hrv/faseco/2707939.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Financial Crisis, Health Outcomes, and Aging: Mexico in the 1980s and 1990s

Author

Listed:
  • Mendez, Oscar
  • Cutler, David
  • Knaul, Felicia
  • Lozano, Rafael
  • Zurita, Beatriz

Abstract

We study the impact of economic crisis on health in Mexico. There have been four wide-scale economic crises in Mexico in the past two decades, the most recent in 1995–96. We find that mortality rates for the very young and the elderly increase or decline less rapidly in crisis years as compared with non-crisis years. In the 1995–96 crisis, mortality rates were about 5 to 7 percent higher in the crisis years compared to the years just prior to the crisis. This translates into a 0.4 percent increase in mortality for the elderly and a 0.06 percent increase in mortality for the very young. We find tentative evidence that economic crises affect mortality by reducing incomes and possibly by placing a greater burden on the medical sector, but not by forcing less healthy members of the population to work or by forcing primary caregivers to go to work.

Suggested Citation

  • Mendez, Oscar & Cutler, David & Knaul, Felicia & Lozano, Rafael & Zurita, Beatriz, 2002. "Financial Crisis, Health Outcomes, and Aging: Mexico in the 1980s and 1990s," Scholarly Articles 2707939, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:hrv:faseco:2707939
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://dash.harvard.edu/bitstream/handle/1/2707939/cutler_financialcrisis.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Theodore Joyce & Naci Mocan, 1993. "Unemployment and Infant Health: Time-Series Evidence from the State of Tennessee," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 28(1), pages 185-203.
    2. Angus S. Deaton & Christina Paxson, 2001. "Mortality, Education, Income, and Inequality among American Cohorts," NBER Chapters, in: Themes in the Economics of Aging, pages 129-170, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Jeffrey Frankel & Sergio Schmukler, 1996. "Country fund discounts and the mexican crisis of December 1994: Did local residents turn pessimistic before international investors?," Open Economies Review, Springer, vol. 7(1), pages 511-534, March.
    4. Corsetti, Giancarlo & Pesenti, Paolo & Roubini, Nouriel, 1999. "What caused the Asian currency and financial crisis?," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 11(3), pages 305-373, October.
    5. Duryea, Suzanne, 1998. "Children's Advancement Through School in Brazil: The Role of Transitory Shocks to Household Income," IDB Publications (Working Papers) 1139, Inter-American Development Bank.
    6. James A. Levinsohn & Steven T. Berry & Jed Friedman, 2003. "Impacts of the Indonesian Economic Crisis.Price Changes and the Poor," NBER Chapters, in: Managing Currency Crises in Emerging Markets, pages 393-428, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Murray, Christopher J. L. & Chen, Lincoln C., 1993. "In search of a contemporary theory for understanding mortality change," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 36(2), pages 143-155, January.
    8. Altimir, Oscar, 1990. "Development, crisis and equity," Revista CEPAL, Naciones Unidas Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), April.
    9. Frankenberg, E. & Beegle, K. & Sikoki, B. & Thomas, D., 1999. "Health, Family Planning and Well-Being in Indonesia during an Economic Crisis: Early Results from the Indonesian Family Life Survey," Papers 99-06, RAND - Labor and Population Program.
    10. Giancarlo Corsetti & Paolo Pesenti & Nouriel Roubini, 1998. "What Caused the Asian Currency and Financial Crisis? Part II: The Policy Debate," NBER Working Papers 6834, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Frankel, Jeffrey A. & Shmukler, Sergio L., 1996. "Country Fund Discounts, Asymmetric Information and the Mexican Crisis of 1994: Did Local Residents Turn Pessimistic Before International Investors?," Center for International and Development Economics Research (CIDER) Working Papers 233431, University of California-Berkeley, Department of Economics.
    12. Garfield, R. & Santana, S., 1997. "The impact of the economic crisis and the US embargo on health in Cuba," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 87(1), pages 15-20.
    13. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2000. "Are Recessions Good for Your Health?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(2), pages 617-650.
    14. Ruhm, Christopher J., 1995. "Economic conditions and alcohol problems," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 583-603, December.
    15. Sebastian Edwards, 1998. "The Mexican Peso Crisis: How Much Did We Know? When Did We Know It?," The World Economy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 21(1), pages 1-30, January.
    16. Tanski, Janet M., 1994. "The impact of crisis, stabilization and structural adjustment on women in Lima, Peru," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 22(11), pages 1627-1642, November.
    17. Frenk, J. & Knaul, F.M. & Vázquez-Segovia, L.A. & Nigenda, G., 1999. "Trends in medical employment: Persistent imbalances in urban Mexico," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 89(7), pages 1054-1058.
    18. repec:pri:cheawb:deaton_paxson_mortality_cohorts.pdf is not listed on IDEAS
    19. repec:pri:cheawb:deaton_paxson_mortality_cohorts is not listed on IDEAS
    20. Sara de la Rica & Thomas Lemieux, 1994. "Does Public Health Insurance Reduce Labor Market Flexibility or Encourage the Underground Economy? Evidence from Spain and the United States," NBER Chapters, in: Social Protection versus Economic Flexibility: Is There a Trade-Off?, pages 265-300, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. Frankenberg, E. & Beegle, K. & Sikoki, B. & Thomas, D., 1999. "Health, Family Planning and Well-Being in Indonesia during an Economic Crisis: Early Results from the Indonesian Family Life Survey," Papers 99-06, RAND - Labor and Population Program.
    22. Wagstaff, Adam, 1985. "Time series analysis of the relationship between unemployment and mortality: A survey of econometric critiques and replications of Brenner's studies," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 21(9), pages 985-996, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Cutler, David M. & Knaul, Felicia & Lozano, Rafael & Mendez, Oscar & Zurita, Beatriz, 2002. "Financial crisis, health outcomes and ageing: Mexico in the 1980s and 1990s," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(2), pages 279-303, May.
    2. Petri Böckerman & Edvard Johansson & Satu Helakorpi & Ritva Prättälä & Erkki Vartiainen & Antti Uutela, 2007. "Does a slump really make you thinner? Finnish micro‐level evidence 1978–2002," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 16(1), pages 103-107, January.
    3. Gerdtham, Ulf-G. & Ruhm, Christopher J., 2006. "Deaths rise in good economic times: Evidence from the OECD," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 4(3), pages 298-316, December.
    4. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2003. "Good times make you sick," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 637-658, July.
    5. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2005. "Healthy living in hard times," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 24(2), pages 341-363, March.
    6. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2001. "Economic Expansions Are Unhealthy: Evidence from Microdata," NBER Working Papers 8447, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Timothy Halliday, 2006. "Income Risk and Health," Working Papers 200612, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    8. Timothy Halliday, 2006. "The Impact of Aggregate and Idiosyncratic Income Shocks on Health Outcomes: Evidence from the PSID," Working Papers 200606, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    9. Aakvik, Arild & Holmas, Tor Helge, 2006. "Access to primary health care and health outcomes: The relationships between GP characteristics and mortality rates," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 25(6), pages 1139-1153, November.
    10. Cohen, Benjamin H. & Remolona, Eli M., 2008. "Information flows during the Asian crisis: Evidence from closed-end funds," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 27(4), pages 636-653, June.
    11. Lin, Shin-Jong, 2006. "The effects of economic instability on infant, neonatal, and postneonatal mortality rates: Evidence from Taiwan," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 62(9), pages 2137-2150, May.
    12. Garth Heutel & Christopher J. Ruhm, 2016. "Air Pollution and Procyclical Mortality," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(3), pages 667-706.
    13. Svensson, Mikael, 2007. "Do not go breaking your heart: Do economic upturns really increase heart attack mortality?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 65(4), pages 833-841, August.
    14. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2006. "Macroeconomic Conditions, Health and Mortality," Chapters, in: Andrew M. Jones (ed.), The Elgar Companion to Health Economics, chapter 1, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    15. Hopkins, Sandra, 2006. "Economic stability and health status: Evidence from East Asia before and after the 1990s economic crisis," Health Policy, Elsevier, vol. 75(3), pages 347-357, February.
    16. Christopher Ruhm, 2007. "A healthy economy can break your heart," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 44(4), pages 829-848, November.
    17. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2000. "Are Recessions Good for Your Health?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(2), pages 617-650.
    18. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2016. "Health Effects of Economic Crises," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(S2), pages 6-24, November.
    19. Bank for International Settlements, 2001. "Market liquidity: proceedings of a workshop held at the BIS," BIS Papers, Bank for International Settlements, number 02.
    20. Research Group, Development, 2008. "Lessons from World Bank Research on Financial Crises," Policy Research Working Paper Series 4779, The World Bank.

    More about this item

    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:hrv:faseco:2707939. 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: Office for Scholarly Communication (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/deharus.html .

    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.