Is it psychologically dangerous to live in a rich area? Evidence from census-matched micro data on suicides in England and Wales

Caspar Kaiser, Ekaterina Oparina and Andrew J. Oswald

LSE Research Online Documents on Economics from London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library

Abstract: This paper reports a new test of relative-deprivation theory. Research into the potential consequences of relative comparisons has in the past had to rely almost exclusively on subjective data on wellbeing. With information that was released under strict confidentiality requirements by the U.K. Office for National Statistics, we here report the first econometric results that are able to draw upon a full set of census-matched micro-level records with register data on suicides in England and Wales. We find that suicide risk is greatest, ceteris paribus, in rich areas. This result, which is consistent with a role for invidious relative comparisons, runs counter to a long-standing belief in the literature that risk is higher in deprived areas.

Keywords: relative income; despair; suicide; relative comparisons (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C25 I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 14 pages
Date: 2026-11-30
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Published in Review of Income and Wealth, 30, November, 2026, 72(4). ISSN: 0034-6586

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