Nothing Special   »   [go: up one dir, main page]
IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/socmed/v145y2015icp63-78.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

The impact of fiscal austerity on suicide mortality: Evidence across the ‘Eurozone periphery’

Author

Listed:
  • Antonakakis, Nikolaos
  • Collins, Alan
Abstract
While linkages between some macroeconomic phenomena and suicides in some countries have been explored, only two studies, hitherto, have established a causal relationship between fiscal austerity and suicide, albeit in a single country. The aim of this study is to provide the first systematic multiple–country evidence of a causal relationship of fiscal austerity on time–, gender–, and age–specific suicide mortality across five Eurozone peripheral countries, namely Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal and Spain over the period 1968–2012, while controlling for various socioeconomic differences. The impact of fiscal adjustments is found to be gender–, age– and time–specific. Specifically, fiscal austerity has short–, medium– and long–run suicide increasing effects on the male population in the 65–89 age group. A 1% reduction in government spending is associated with a 1.38%, 2.42% and 3.32% increase in the short–, medium– and long–run, respectively, of male suicides rates in the 65–89 age group in the Eurozone periphery. These results are highly robust to alternative measures of fiscal austerity. Improved labour market institutions help mitigate the negative effects of fiscal austerity on suicide mortality.

Suggested Citation

  • Antonakakis, Nikolaos & Collins, Alan, 2015. "The impact of fiscal austerity on suicide mortality: Evidence across the ‘Eurozone periphery’," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 145(C), pages 63-78.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:socmed:v:145:y:2015:i:c:p:63-78
    DOI: 10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.09.033
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953615301350
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.socscimed.2015.09.033?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 search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Minoiu, Camelia & Andres, Antonio Rodriguez, 2008. "The effect of public spending on suicide: Evidence from U.S. state data," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 37(1), pages 237-261, February.
    2. 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.
    3. Sotiris Vandoros & Georgios Kavetsos & Paul Dolan, 2014. "Greasy Roads: The Impact of Bad Financial News on Road Traffic Accidents," Risk Analysis, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 34(3), pages 556-566, March.
    4. Rafael Di Tella & Robert J. MacCulloch & Andrew J. Oswald, 2003. "The Macroeconomics of Happiness," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 85(4), pages 809-827, November.
    5. Christian Breuer & Horst Rottmann, 2014. "Do Labor Market Institutions Influence Suicide Mortality? An International Panel Data Analysis," CESifo Working Paper Series 4875, CESifo.
    6. Arellano, Manuel & Bover, Olympia, 1995. "Another look at the instrumental variable estimation of error-components models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 68(1), pages 29-51, July.
    7. Georgia Kaplanoglou & Vassilis T. Rapanos & Ioanna C. Bardakas, 2015. "Does Fairness Matter for the Success of Fiscal Consolidation?," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 68(2), pages 197-219, May.
    8. Ant Afonso & Ricardo M. Sousa, 2012. "The macroeconomic effects of fiscal policy," Applied Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(34), pages 4439-4454, December.
    9. David Roodman, 2009. "How to do xtabond2: An introduction to difference and system GMM in Stata," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 9(1), pages 86-136, March.
    10. Robert J. MacCulloch & Rafael Di Tella & Andrew J. Oswald, 2001. "Preferences over Inflation and Unemployment: Evidence from Surveys of Happiness," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 91(1), pages 335-341, March.
    11. Alberto Alesina & Silvia Ardagna, 2010. "Large Changes in Fiscal Policy: Taxes versus Spending," NBER Chapters, in: Tax Policy and the Economy, Volume 24, pages 35-68, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Francesco Giavazzi & Marco Pagano, 1990. "Can Severe Fiscal Contractions Be Expansionary? Tales of Two Small European Countries," NBER Chapters, in: NBER Macroeconomics Annual 1990, Volume 5, pages 75-122, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Ant�nio Afonso, 2010. "Expansionary fiscal consolidations in Europe: new evidence," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 17(2), pages 105-109, January.
    14. Joe Chen & Yun Jeong Choi & Kohta Mori & Yasuyuki Sawada & Saki Sugano, 2012. "Socio‐Economic Studies On Suicide: A Survey," Journal of Economic Surveys, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 26(2), pages 271-306, April.
    15. Alesina, Alberto & Di Tella, Rafael & MacCulloch, Robert, 2004. "Inequality and happiness: are Europeans and Americans different?," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 88(9-10), pages 2009-2042, August.
    16. Alberto Alesina & Roberto Perotti, 1995. "Fiscal Expansions and Fiscal Adjustments in OECD Countries," NBER Working Papers 5214, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    17. Christian Breuer, 2015. "Unemployment and Suicide Mortality: Evidence from Regional Panel Data in Europe," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(8), pages 936-950, August.
    18. Bruno, Giovanni S.F., 2005. "Approximating the bias of the LSDV estimator for dynamic unbalanced panel data models," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 87(3), pages 361-366, June.
    19. Blundell, Richard & Bond, Stephen, 1998. "Initial conditions and moment restrictions in dynamic panel data models," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 87(1), pages 115-143, August.
    20. Matti Viren, 2005. "Suicide and business cycles: new empirical evidence," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 12(14), pages 887-891.
    21. Nickell, Stephen J, 1981. "Biases in Dynamic Models with Fixed Effects," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 49(6), pages 1417-1426, November.
    22. Giovanni S. F. Bruno, 2005. "Estimation and inference in dynamic unbalanced panel-data models with a small number of individuals," Stata Journal, StataCorp LP, vol. 5(4), pages 473-500, December.
    23. 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.
    24. Schaltegger, Christoph A. & Weder, Martin, 2014. "Austerity, inequality and politics," European Journal of Political Economy, Elsevier, vol. 35(C), pages 1-22.
    25. Ruhm, Christopher J., 1995. "Economic conditions and alcohol problems," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 14(5), pages 583-603, December.
    26. Olivier Blanchard & Roberto Perotti, 2002. "An Empirical Characterization of the Dynamic Effects of Changes in Government Spending and Taxes on Output," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 117(4), pages 1329-1368.
    27. Manuel Arellano & Stephen Bond, 1991. "Some Tests of Specification for Panel Data: Monte Carlo Evidence and an Application to Employment Equations," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 58(2), pages 277-297.
    28. Judson, Ruth A. & Owen, Ann L., 1999. "Estimating dynamic panel data models: a guide for macroeconomists," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 65(1), pages 9-15, October.
    29. repec:taf:applec:44:y:2012:i:34:p:4439-4454 is not listed on IDEAS
    30. 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..
    31. Turrini, Alessandro & Giudice, Gabriele & ,, 2004. "Non-Keynesian Fiscal Consolidation in the EU? Ex Post Evidence and Ex Ante Analysis," CEPR Discussion Papers 4388, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    32. Antonakakis, Nikolaos & Collins, Alan, 2014. "The impact of fiscal austerity on suicide: On the empirics of a modern Greek tragedy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 112(C), pages 39-50.
    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. Baert, Stijn & De Visschere, Sarah & Schoors, Koen & Vandenberghe, Désirée & Omey, Eddy, 2016. "First depressed, then discriminated against?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 247-254.
    2. Antonakakis, Nikolaos & Collins, Alan, 2018. "A suicidal Kuznets curve?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 90-93.
    3. Briody, Jonathan & Doyle, Orla & Kelleher, Cecily, 2020. "The effect of local unemployment on health: A longitudinal study of Irish mothers 2001-2011," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    4. Abdou, Rawayda & Cassells, Damien & Berrill, Jenny & Hanly, Jim, 2022. "Revisiting the relationship between economic uncertainty and suicide: An alternative approach," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 306(C).
    5. Jonathan Briody & Orla Doyle & Cecily Kelleher, 2019. "The Effect of the Great Recession on Health: A longitudinal study of Irish Mothers 2001-2011," Working Papers 201912, Geary Institute, University College Dublin.
    6. Goulas, Eleftherios & Zervoyianni, Athina, 2016. "IMF-lending programs and suicide mortality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 153(C), pages 44-53.
    7. Ichiro Kawachi & Ilias Kyriopoulos & Sotiris Vandoros, 2023. "Economic uncertainty and cardiovascular disease mortality," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 32(7), pages 1550-1560, July.
    8. Kostakis, Ioannis, 2020. "Does tobacco spending crowd-out the household budget? Preliminary results using nationwide survey data," MPRA Paper 102251, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    9. 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.
    10. Chungah Kim & Youngtae Cho, 2017. "Does Unstable Employment Have an Association with Suicide Rates among the Young?," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 14(5), pages 1-14, April.
    11. Claveria, Oscar, 2022. "Global economic uncertainty and suicide: Worldwide evidence," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 305(C).
    12. Jofre-Bonet, Mireia & Serra-Sastre, Victoria & Vandoros, Sotiris, 2018. "The impact of the Great Recession on health-related risk factors, behaviour and outcomes in England," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 213-225.
    13. Brown, Sarah & Kontonikas, Alexandros & Montagnoli, Alberto & Moro, Mirko & Onnis, Luisanna, 2021. "Life satisfaction and austerity: Expectations and the macroeconomy," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    14. S. V. Doroshenko & O. V. Sanaeva, 2022. "An Assessment of the Debt Burden Effect on the Suicide Rate in Russian Regions," Regional Research of Russia, Springer, vol. 12(3), pages 386-394, September.
    15. Jofre-Bonet, M. & Serra-Sastre, V. & Vandoros, S., 2016. "Better Health in Times of Hardship?," Working Papers 16/09, Department of Economics, City University London.
    16. Toshiki Hasegawa & Kouji Fukuyama & Motohiro Okada, 2021. "Relationships between Expenditure of Regional Governments and Suicide Mortalities Caused by Six Major Motives in Japan," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(1), pages 1-18, December.
    17. Bambra, Clare & Smith, Katherine E. & Pearce, Jamie, 2019. "Scaling up: The politics of health and place," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 232(C), pages 36-42.
    18. Sarah Brown & Alexandros Kontonikas & Alberto Montagnoli & Mirko Moro & Luisanna Onnis, 2018. "Austerity, Life Satisfaction and Expectations," Working Papers 2018001, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    19. Bennett, Davara L. & Webb, Calum J.R. & Mason, Kate E. & Schlüter, Daniela K. & Fahy, Katie & Alexiou, Alexandros & Wickham, Sophie & Barr, Ben & Taylor-Robinson, David, 2021. "Funding for preventative Children’s Services and rates of children becoming looked after: A natural experiment using longitudinal area-level data in England," Children and Youth Services Review, Elsevier, vol. 131(C).
    20. Vandoros, Sotiris & Avendano, Mauricio & Kawachi, Ichiro, 2019. "The association between economic uncertainty and suicide in the short-run," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 220(C), pages 403-410.
    21. Damon Proulx & David A. Savage, 2020. "What Determines End-of-Life Attitudes? Revisiting the Dutch Experience," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 152(3), pages 1085-1125, December.

    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. Nikolaos Antonakakis & Nikolaos Antonakakis & Alan Collins, 2014. "Does Fiscal Consolidation Really Get You Down? Evidence from Suicide Mortality," Department of Economics Working Papers wuwp182, Vienna University of Economics and Business, Department of Economics.
    2. Antonakakis, Nikolaos & Collins, Alan, 2018. "A suicidal Kuznets curve?," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 166(C), pages 90-93.
    3. Mohseni-Cheraghlou, Amin, 2013. "Labor markets and mental wellbeing: Labor market conditions and suicides in the United States (1979–2004)," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 175-186.
    4. Roberto Dell'Anno & Adalgiso Amendola, 2015. "Social Exclusion and Economic Growth: An Empirical Investigation in European Economies," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 61(2), pages 274-301, June.
    5. Eichler, Stefan & Pyun, Ju Hyun, 2022. "Ricardian equivalence, foreign debt and sovereign default risk," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 197(C), pages 21-49.
    6. Ricardo Barradas, 2023. "Why Has Labor Productivity Slowed Down in the Era of Financialization?: Insights from the Post-Keynesians for the European Union Countries," Review of Radical Political Economics, Union for Radical Political Economics, vol. 55(3), pages 390-422, September.
    7. Sarah Brown & Alexandros Kontonikas & Alberto Montagnoli & Mirko Moro & Luisanna Onnis, 2018. "Austerity, Life Satisfaction and Expectations," Working Papers 2018001, The University of Sheffield, Department of Economics.
    8. Ibrahim, Mansor H. & Salim, Kinan & Abojeib, Moutaz & Yeap, Lau Wee, 2019. "Structural changes, competition and bank stability in Malaysia’s dual banking system," Economic Systems, Elsevier, vol. 43(1), pages 111-129.
    9. Özlem Onaran & Valerie Boesch, 2014. "The Effect of Globalization on the Distribution of Taxes and Social Expenditures in Europe: Do Welfare State Regimes Matter?," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 46(2), pages 373-397, February.
    10. Toke S. Aidt & Vitor Castro & Rodrigo Martins, 2018. "Shades of red and blue: government ideology and sustainable development," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 175(3), pages 303-323, June.
    11. Amine Lahiani & Ameni Mtibaa & Foued Gabsi, 2022. "Fiscal Consolidation, Social Sector Expenditures and Twin Deficit Hypothesis: Evidence from Emerging and Middle-Income Countries," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 64(4), pages 710-747, December.
    12. Armey, Laura E. & McNab, Robert M., 2018. "Expenditure decentralization and natural resources," The Quarterly Review of Economics and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 52-61.
    13. Brown, Sarah & Kontonikas, Alexandros & Montagnoli, Alberto & Moro, Mirko & Onnis, Luisanna, 2021. "Life satisfaction and austerity: Expectations and the macroeconomy," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 95(C).
    14. Vitor Castro, 2016. "On the behaviour of the functional components ofgovernment expenditures during fiscal consolidations," NIPE Working Papers 11/2016, NIPE - Universidade do Minho.
    15. Kilman, Josefin, 2020. "Monetary Policy and Income Inequality in the United States: The Role of Labor Unions," Working Papers 2020:10, Lund University, Department of Economics, revised 20 Sep 2022.
    16. Woldu, Gabriel Temesgen & Szakálné Kanó, Izabella, 2023. "Macroeconomic effects of fiscal consolidation on economic activity in SSA countries," The Journal of Economic Asymmetries, Elsevier, vol. 28(C).
    17. Castro, Vítor, 2017. "The impact of fiscal consolidations on the functional components of government expenditures," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 60(C), pages 138-150.
    18. Briglauer, Wolfgang, 2014. "The impact of regulation and competition on the migration from old to new communications infrastructure: Recent evidence from EU27 member states," ZEW Discussion Papers 14-085, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    19. Petrick, Martin & Zier, Patrick, 2012. "Common Agricultural Policy effects on dynamic labour use in agriculture," EconStor Open Access Articles and Book Chapters, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics, vol. 37(6), pages 671-678.
    20. Caroline T. Witte & Martijn J. Burger & Elena Ianchovichina, 2020. "Subjective Well‐Being and Peaceful Uprisings," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 73(1), pages 120-158, February.

    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:socmed:v:145:y:2015:i:c:p:63-78. 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/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/315/description#description .

    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.