CELEBRITY, MEDIA, AND SUICIDE

Yun Jeong Choi and Hyungha Oh
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Yun Jeong Choi: School of Economics Yonsei University
Hyungha Oh: Korea Development Institute

No 2013rwp-56, Working papers from Yonsei University, Yonsei Economics Research Institute

Abstract: There is ample evidence that celebrity suicides may induce copycat suicides, with media coverage playing a critical role in mediating this relationship. This paper builds an economic model to explain this putative link based on the identity theory of Akerlof and Kranton (2000). The empirical analysis, using a Poisson regression model, demonstrates that Korean celebrity suicides, as well as media exposure to suicide stories, significantly increase suicide rates, especially for females and younger age groups. These findings provide some policy implications for media guidelines and their implementation in preventing suicides.

JEL-codes: D03 Z13 Z18 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 33pages
Date: 2013-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-cul
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