People on the verge of death: evidence from impacts of celebrity suicides

Sok Chul Hong and Jungmin Lee

Applied Economics, 2015, vol. 47, issue 7, 710-724

Abstract: We attempt to identify the population who are vulnerable to emotional shocks by exploiting an unprecedented series of celebrity suicides in South Korea during the last decade, including one of the most famous actresses, as well as a former president. Our conservative estimates show that for 5 out of 11 celebrity suicides observed, 1 celebrity suicide on average yielded to more than 10 excessive suicides per day over a time frame of at least 2 weeks. The results indicate that a significant number of people are very much mentally unstable to end their life by emotional shocks that should be irrelevant to their economic status.

Date: 2015
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DOI: 10.1080/00036846.2014.980571

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