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Using a LASSO approach to analyse the determinants of measured and ‘natural’ suicide rates

Author

Listed:
  • Alan Collins
  • Jingwen Fan
  • Aruneema Mahabir

Abstract

A new empirical approach to testing the hypothesis of a (positive) ‘natural’ rate of suicides is considered. The clustered variant of the Least Absolute Shrinkage and Selection Operation (LASSO) framework is employed to select the determinants of suicide in the USA and a Least Squares Dummy Variable (LSDV) approach is then employed to estimate the ‘natural rate of suicide’ at the state level. Our model suggests that over the 2005-2017 period, natural rates for US states ranged from 5.5 (DC) per 100,000 population per year to 18.8 (Montana). Our results support the natural rate hypothesis with a more robust specification. We also consider the use of the natural rate measures as a means of evaluating progress in increasingly influential zero suicide initiatives.

Suggested Citation

  • Alan Collins & Jingwen Fan & Aruneema Mahabir, 2019. "Using a LASSO approach to analyse the determinants of measured and ‘natural’ suicide rates," NBS Discussion Papers in Economics 2019/04, Economics, Nottingham Business School, Nottingham Trent University.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbs:wpaper:2019/04
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Zero suicide; LASSO; Natural rate of suicides; USA;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • C23 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Single Equation Models; Single Variables - - - Models with Panel Data; Spatio-temporal Models
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior

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