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Does unemployment aggravate suicide rates in South Africa? Some empirical evidence

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  • Andrew Phiri

    (Department of Economics, Nelson Mandela University)

  • Doreen Mukuka

    (Department of Economics, Finance and Business Studies, CTI Potchefstroom Campus)

Abstract

Our study investigates the cointegration relationship between suicides and unemployment in South Africa using annual data collected between 1996 and 2015 applied to the ARDL model. Furthermore, suicide data is further disintegrated into ‘sex’ and ‘age’ demographics. Our empirical results indicate that unemployment is insignificantly related with suicide rates with the exception for citizens above 75 years. On the other hand, other control variables such as per capita GDP, inflation and divorce appear to be more significantly related with suicides. Collectively, these findings have important implications for policymakers.

Suggested Citation

  • Andrew Phiri & Doreen Mukuka, 2017. "Does unemployment aggravate suicide rates in South Africa? Some empirical evidence," Working Papers 1705, Department of Economics, Nelson Mandela University, revised Jul 2017.
    • Handle: RePEc:mnd:wpaper:1705
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    Cited by:

    1. 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.
    2. Giorgio Mattei & Barbara Pistoresi, 2019. "Unemployment and suicide in Italy: evidence of a long-run association mitigated by public unemployment spending," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 20(4), pages 569-577, June.
    3. Mitch Kunce, 2022. "The Tenuous Ecological Divorce and Unemployment Link with Suicide: A U.S. Panel Analysis 1968-2020," Journal of Statistical and Econometric Methods, SCIENPRESS Ltd, vol. 11(3), pages 1-2.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Unemployment; Suicide; Cointegration; Causality; South Africa; Sub Saharan Africa (SSA).;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C22 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Time-Series Models; Dynamic Quantile Regressions; Dynamic Treatment Effect Models; Diffusion Processes
    • C51 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric Modeling - - - Model Construction and Estimation
    • E24 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Consumption, Saving, Production, Employment, and Investment - - - Employment; Unemployment; Wages; Intergenerational Income Distribution; Aggregate Human Capital; Aggregate Labor Productivity
    • E31 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Prices, Business Fluctuations, and Cycles - - - Price Level; Inflation; Deflation
    • E71 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - Macro-Based Behavioral Economics - - - Role and Effects of Psychological, Emotional, Social, and Cognitive Factors on the Macro Economy

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