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The happiness - suicide paradox

Author

Listed:
  • Mary C. Daly
  • Andrew J. Oswald
  • Daniel J. Wilson
  • Stephen Wu

Abstract

Suicide is an important scientific phenomenon. Yet its causes remain poorly understood. This study documents a paradox: the happiest places have the highest suicide rates. The study combines findings from two large and rich individual-level data sets?one on life satisfaction and another on suicide deaths?to establish the paradox in a consistent way across U.S. states. It replicates the finding in data on Western industrialized nations and checks that the paradox is not an artifact of population composition or confounding factors. The study concludes with the conjecture that people may find it particularly painful to be unhappy in a happy place, so that the decision to commit suicide is influenced by relative comparisons.

Suggested Citation

  • Mary C. Daly & Andrew J. Oswald & Daniel J. Wilson & Stephen Wu, 2010. "The happiness - suicide paradox," Working Paper Series 2010-30, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco.
    • Handle: RePEc:fip:fedfwp:2010-30
    as

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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Mary C. Daly & Daniel J. Wilson, 2009. "Happiness, Unhappiness, and Suicide: An Empirical Assessment," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 7(2-3), pages 539-549, 04-05.
    2. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2008. "Hypertension and happiness across nations," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 218-233, March.
    3. Oswald, Andrew J. & Wu, Stephen, 2010. "Objective Confirmation of Subjective Measures of Human Well-being: Evidence from the USA," IZA Discussion Papers 4695, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Suicide in happy places
      by Economic Logician in Economic Logic on 2010-12-24 21:04:00
    2. The Happiness—Suicide Paradox
      by Ariel Goldring in Free Market Mojo on 2010-11-28 18:00:21

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Happiness; Suicide;

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