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Testing the hypothesis of the natural suicide rates: Further evidence from OECD data

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  • Andrés, Antonio Rodríguez
  • Halicioglu, Ferda

Abstract

This paper provides further evidence on the hypothesis of the natural rate of suicide using the time series data for 15 OECD countries over the period 1970-2004. This hypothesis suggests that the suicide rate of a society could never be zero even if both the economic and the social conditions were made ideal from the point of view of suicide (Yang and Lester, 1991). This research relates the suicide rates to harmonized unemployment and divorce rates to test the natural hypothesis statistically. We also address methodological flaws by earlier suicide studies by employing autoregressive-distributed lag (ARDL) approach to cointegration advocated by Pesaran et al. (2001). In majority of regression equations, the constant term was positive and statistically significant, indicating a non-zero natural suicide rate. In particular, we find evidence that at aggregate level, Turkey has the lowest (3.64) and Japan has the highest (13.98) natural rate of suicides. In terms of the male natural suicide rates, the United Kingdom ranks the lowest (4.73) and Belgium ranks the top (15.44). As for the female natural suicide rates, Japan takes the lead (16.76) and Italy has the lowest (5.60). The results are also compared and contrasted to each other with a view to drawing plausible policy conclusions.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrés, Antonio Rodríguez & Halicioglu, Ferda, 2011. "Testing the hypothesis of the natural suicide rates: Further evidence from OECD data," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 28(1-2), pages 22-26, January.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecmode:v:28:y:2011:i:1-2:p:22-26
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    Cited by:

    1. Marko Korhonen & Mikko Puhakka & Matti Viren, 2017. "Economic hardship and suicides," International Journal of Social Economics, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 44(10), pages 1348-1360, October.
    2. Izunna Anyikwa & Nicolene Haaman & Andrew Phiri, 2018. "Persistence of suicides in G20 countries: SPSM approach to three generations of unit root tests," Working Papers 1825, Department of Economics, Nelson Mandela University.
    3. Ferda Halicioglu & Natalya Ketenci, 2018. "Testing the productivity bias hypothesis in Middle East countries," Journal of Economic Studies, Emerald Group Publishing Limited, vol. 45(5), pages 922-931, October.
    4. Halicioglu, Ferda & Ketenci, Natalya, 2018. "Output, renewable and non-renewable energy production, and international trade: Evidence from EU-15 countries," Energy, Elsevier, vol. 159(C), pages 995-1002.
    5. Halicioglu, Ferda & Yolac, Sema, 2015. "Testing the impact of unemployment on self-employment: empirical evidence from OECD countries," MPRA Paper 65026, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    6. Sovannroeun Samreth, 2015. "An Estimation of the Money Demand Function in Cambodia," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 35(4), pages 2625-2636.
    7. Ferda Halıcıoğlu & Kasım Eren, 2017. "Testing Twin Deficits and Saving-Investment Nexus in Turkey," Yildiz Social Science Review, Yildiz Technical University, vol. 3(1), pages 35-46.
    8. Botha, Ferdi & Nguyen, Viet H., 2022. "Opposite nonlinear effects of unemployment and sentiment on male and female suicide rates: Evidence from Australia," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 292(C).
    9. Collins, Alan & Fan, Jingwen & Mahabir, Aruneema, 2022. "Actual versus ‘natural’ rates of suicide: Evidence from the USA," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 106(C).
    10. Mitch Kunce, 2022. "A 'Natural' Suicide Rate, Hysteresis or Suicide Persistence? Evidence from U.S. State-Level Panel Data, 1980-2020," Journal of Statistical and Econometric Methods, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 11(2), pages 1-2.
    11. Okada, Keisuke & Samreth, Sovannroeun, 2013. "A study on the socio-economic determinants of suicide: Evidence from 13 European OECD countries," Journal of Behavioral and Experimental Economics (formerly The Journal of Socio-Economics), Elsevier, vol. 45(C), pages 78-85.
    12. Nikolaos Antonakakis & Rangan Gupta, 2017. "Is Economic Policy Uncertainty Related to Suicide Rates? Evidence from the United States," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 133(2), pages 543-560, September.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Natural rate of suicides Cointegration Time series OECD;

    JEL classification:

    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

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