Citation

Frijters P, Johnston DW, Lordan G, Shields MA. Soc. Sci. Med. 2013; 84: 61-68.

Affiliation

Department of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2013, Elsevier Publishing)

DOI

10.1016/j.socscimed.2013.01.028

PMID

23517705

Abstract

There is considerable policy interest in the impact of macroeconomic conditions on health-related behaviours and outcomes. This paper sheds new light on this issue by exploring the relationship between macroeconomic conditions and an indicator of problem drinking derived from state-level data on alcoholism-related Google searches conducted in the US over the period 2004-2011. We find the current recessionary period coincided with an almost 20% increase in alcoholism-related searches. Controlling for state and time-effects, a 5% rise in unemployment is followed in the next 12 months by an approximate 15% increase in searches. The use of Internet searches to inform on health-related behaviours and outcomes is in its infancy; but we suggest that the data provides important real-time information for policy-makers and can help to overcome the under-reporting in surveys of sensitive information.

Language: en