@article{ref1,
title=""Deaths of despair" over the business cycle: new estimates from a shift-share instrumental variables approach",
journal="Economics and human biology",
year="2024",
author="Lowenstein, Christopher",
volume="53",
number="",
pages="e101374-e101374",
abstract="This study presents new evidence of the effects of short-term economic fluctuations on suicide, fatal drug overdose, and alcohol-related mortality among working-age adults in the United States from 2003-2017. Using a shift-share instrumental variables approach, I find that a one percentage point increase in the aggregate employment rate decreases current-year non-drug suicides by 1.7 percent. These protective effects are concentrated among working-age men and likely reflect a combination of individual labor market experiences as well as the indirect effects of local economic growth. I find no consistent evidence that short-term business cycle changes affect drug or alcohol-related mortality. While the estimated protective effects are small relative to secular increases in suicide in recent decades, these findings are suggestive of important, short-term economic factors affecting specific causes of death and should be considered alongside the longer-term and multifaceted social, economic, and cultural determinants of America's &quot;despair&quot; epidemic.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="1570-677X",
doi="10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101374",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ehb.2024.101374"
}