IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/ecolet/v253y2025ics0165176525002393.html

Individual-level determinants of suicide: Evidence from universal insurance claims and cause-of-death statistics

Author

Listed:
  • Kim, Pyoungsik

Abstract

This study analyzes the effects of socioeconomic variables on individual suicides using Proportional Hazards (PH) and Accelerated Failure Time (AFT) models. Utilizing linked data from South Korea’s universal health insurance claims and cause-of-death records, the analysis examines age, gender, disability, and insurance premiums (a proxy for income) as determinants of suicide-related mortality. Results show that suicide risk increases with age and disability but decreases with higher insurance premiums, while women have lower risk and longer survival times. Mental illness diagnoses show no significant impact. Within the PH model, only age emerges as a statistically significant predictor, with other variables not reaching conventional significance levels.

Suggested Citation

  • Kim, Pyoungsik, 2025. "Individual-level determinants of suicide: Evidence from universal insurance claims and cause-of-death statistics," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 253(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:253:y:2025:i:c:s0165176525002393
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112402
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0165176525002393
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.econlet.2025.112402?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to

    for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anne Case & Angus Deaton, 2015. "Suicide, Age, and Well-Being: An Empirical Investigation," NBER Chapters, in: Insights in the Economics of Aging, pages 307-334, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Christopher J. Ruhm, 2000. "Are Recessions Good for Your Health?," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 115(2), pages 617-650.
    3. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2003. "Good times make you sick," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 22(4), pages 637-658, July.
    4. Hamermesh, Daniel S & Soss, Neal M, 1974. "An Economic Theory of Suicide," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 82(1), pages 83-98, Jan.-Feb..
    5. Manuel Serrano‐Alarcón & Alexander Kentikelenis & Martin Mckee & David Stuckler, 2022. "Impact of COVID‐19 lockdowns on mental health: Evidence from a quasi‐natural experiment in England and Scotland," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(2), pages 284-296, February.
    6. John Helliwell, 2007. "Well-Being and Social Capital: Does Suicide Pose a Puzzle?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 81(3), pages 455-496, May.
    7. Ruhm, Christopher J., 2015. "Recessions, healthy no more?," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(C), pages 17-28.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Max Brüning & Josselin Thuilliez, 2019. "Mortality and Macroeconomic Conditions: What Can We Learn From France?," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 56(5), pages 1747-1764, October.
    2. Wang, Huixia & Wang, Chenggang & Halliday, Timothy J., 2018. "Health and health inequality during the great recession: Evidence from the PSID," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 17-30.
    3. Birgisdóttir, Kristín Helga & Hauksdóttir, Arna & Ruhm, Christopher & Valdimarsdóttir, Unnur Anna & Ásgeirsdóttir, Tinna Laufey, 2020. "The effect of the economic collapse in Iceland on the probability of cardiovascular events," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 37(C).
    4. Federico Belotti & Joanna Kopinska & Alessandro Palma & Andrea Piano Mortari, 2022. "Health status and the Great Recession. Evidence from electronic health records," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(8), pages 1770-1799, August.
    5. Chenggang Wang & Huixia Wang & Timothy J. Halliday, 2017. "Health and Health Inequality during the Great Recession: Evidence from the PSID," Working Papers 201703, University of Hawaii at Manoa, Department of Economics.
    6. Erdal Tekin & Chandler McClellan & Karen Jean Minyard, 2013. "Health and Health Behaviors during the Worst of Times," NBER Working Papers 19234, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Christoph Kronenberg, 2021. "New(spaper) evidence of a reduction in suicide mentions during the 19th century US gold rush," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 30(10), pages 2582-2594, September.
    8. Garth Heutel & Christopher J. Ruhm, 2016. "Air Pollution and Procyclical Mortality," Journal of the Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, University of Chicago Press, vol. 3(3), pages 667-706.
    9. repec:ags:aaea22:335460 is not listed on IDEAS
    10. Sanna Huikari & Marko Korhonen, 2016. "The Impact of Unemployment on Well-Being: Evidence from the Regional Level Suicide Data in Finland," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 128(3), pages 1103-1119, September.
    11. Huang, Wei & Lei, Xiaoyan & Yu, Miao, 2024. "Economic policy uncertainty, health status, and mortality," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 362(C).
    12. Lizhong Peng & Jie Chen & Xiaohui Guo, 2022. "Macroeconomic conditions and health‐related outcomes in the United States: A metropolitan and micropolitan statistical area‐level analysis between 2004 and 2017," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 31(1), pages 3-20, January.
    13. Cristina Bellés‐Obrero & Sergi Jiménez‐Martín & Judit Vall‐Castello, 2016. "Bad Times, Slimmer Children?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 25(S2), pages 93-112, November.
    14. Isabel Musse, 2025. "Employment shocks and demand for pain medication: Understanding the channels that drive opioid use," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 34(2), pages 316-344, February.
    15. De-Chih Liu, 2017. "The Discouraged Worker and Suicide in the United States," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 134(2), pages 771-787, November.
    16. Jofre-Bonet, M. & Serra-Sastre, V. & Vandoros, S., 2016. "Better Health in Times of Hardship?," Working Papers 16/09, Department of Economics, City St George's, University of London.
    17. Dorn, Florian & Lange, Berit & Braml, Martin & Gstrein, David & Nyirenda, John L.Z. & Vanella, Patrizio & Winter, Joachim & Fuest, Clemens & Krause, Gérard, 2023. "The challenge of estimating the direct and indirect effects of COVID-19 interventions – Toward an integrated economic and epidemiological approach," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 49(C).
    18. Maddalena Cavicchioli & Barbara Pistoresi, 2020. "Unfolding the relationship between mortality, economic fluctuations, and health in Italy," The European Journal of Health Economics, Springer;Deutsche Gesellschaft für Gesundheitsökonomie (DGGÖ), vol. 21(3), pages 351-362, April.
    19. Moscone, Francesco & Tosetti, Elisa & Vittadini, Giorgio, 2024. "The role of economic news in predicting suicides," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 55(C).
    20. Zuzana Janko & Gurleen Popli, 2024. "Economic fluctuations and mortality in Canada revisited," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 90(4), pages 878-899, April.
    21. Diaz Gutierrez, Julian, 2023. "Trade Effects on Substance Abuse: Evidence from Colombia's Liberalization," 2023 Annual Meeting, July 23-25, Washington D.C. 335460, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;
    ;
    ;
    ;

    JEL classification:

    • C41 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Duration Analysis; Optimal Timing Strategies
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:253:y:2025:i:c:s0165176525002393. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/ecolet .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.