Suicide and Unemployment in Japan: Evidence from Municipal Level Suicide Rates and Age-Specific Suicide Rates

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

12-1-2010

Department

School of Business

Abstract

Most previous studies on the relationship between unemployment and suicide use either individual level data or large unit aggregate level data. The former typically fail to distinguish the observed association from the causal link, and the latter often produce inconsistent findings on the unemployment-suicide relationship, making it difficult to draw policy implications. The present study contributes to this line of research by using two semi-aggregate level data in Japan. The results show that unemployment is significantly associated with male suicide rates, especially those of prime age working men, while the results are not straightforward for female suicide rates. © 2010 Elsevier Inc.

DOI

10.1016/j.socec.2010.06.009

First Page

683

Last Page

691

Volume

39

Issue

6

ISSN

10535357

Comments

At the time of publication, Masanori Kuroki was affiliated with University of California, Riverside.

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