Are Recessions Really Good for Your Health? Evidence from Canada

Hideki Ariizumi and Tammy Schirle

CLSSRN working papers from Vancouver School of Economics

Abstract: This study investigates the relationship between business cycle fluctuations and health in the Canadian context, given that a procyclical relationship between mortality rates and unemployment rates has already been well established in the U.S. literature. Using a fixed effects model and provincial data over the period 1977--†2009, we estimate the effect of unemployment rates on Canadian age and gender specific mortality rates. Consistent with U.S. results, there is some evidence of a strong procyclical pattern in the mortality rates of middle--†aged Canadians. We find that a one percentage point increase in the unemployment rate lowers the predicted mortality rate of individuals in their 30s by nearly 2 percent. In contrast to the U.S. data, we do not find a significant cyclical pattern in the mortality rates of infants and seniors.

Keywords: Unemployment; Business Cycles; Health; Mortality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: E32 I10 J20 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 20 pages
Date: 2011-02-22, Revised 2011-02-22
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea, nep-lab and nep-mac
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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Journal Article: Are recessions really good for your health? Evidence from Canada (2012)
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