Cash benefits for poverty relief from the viewpoint of suicide prevention

Tomoya Suzuki ()
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Tomoya Suzuki: Kansai University

Eurasian Economic Review, 2016, vol. 6, issue 3, No 7, 489-498

Abstract: Abstract A welfare programme can contribute to preventing suicide by granting cash benefits to those experiencing considerable deterioration in their living standards. However, undesirable side effects may arise. Cash benefit beneficiaries might depend heavily on welfare, thus finding themselves caught in an unemployment trap in which they have little incentive to seek work. This problem should be considered when developing a welfare programme aimed at poverty relief. This paper assumes two welfare programmes as polar cases. One programme provides all beneficiaries with the same amount of cash benefits. The other provides each beneficiary with an amount that is proportional to the level of his or her previously earned wage income. This paper assumes that these welfare programmes prohibit beneficiaries from earning extra income and carrying cash benefits over to the next period. I numerically simulate suicidal decision making under each programme. The simulation results show that flat-rate cash benefits can contribute more to suicide prevention than wage-related cash benefits.

Keywords: Suicide prevention; Cash benefits; Poverty relief; Unemployment trap; Numerical simulation (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D19 I12 I14 I31 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2016
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DOI: 10.1007/s40822-016-0052-y

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