 The debt crisis, austerity measures, and suicide in GreeceCharis E. Kubrin, Bradley J. Bartos and Richard McCleary Social Science Quarterly, 2022, vol. 103, issue 1, 120-140 Abstract: Background How are economic downturns and suicide related? Objective This study examines the link between economically driven austerity measures implemented during a recent economic downturn—the Greek debt crisis—and suicide for the population as a whole, as well as for men and women separately. Methods Utilizing a 50‐nation panel containing annual suicide counts and population demographics for the years 1995–2015 from the World Health Organization's Mortality archive, the analysis employs a synthetic control design, a quasi‐experimental approach that allows us to causally model the relationship between Greece's International Monetary Fund‐imposed austerity measures and suicide, something that has hampered prior research efforts. Results Findings show austerity policies corresponded with increased suicide rates in Greece for the population as a whole and for men and women. Robustness tests confirm these results. Conclusions We discuss the implications of the findings for the current economic crisis associated with the COVID‐19 pandemic. Date: 2022 Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:bla:socsci:v:103:y:2022:i:1:p:120-140 Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from Access Statistics for this article Social Science Quarterly is currently edited by Robert L. Lineberry More articles in Social Science Quarterly from Southwestern Social Science Association |
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