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Tragedy Following Tragedies: Estimating the Copycat Effect of Media-Covered Suicide in the Age of Digital News

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  • Daniel Ownby
  • P. Wesley Routon

Abstract

The Werther effect is the name given to the observed relationship between celebrity suicide and the national suicide rate. Media-covered suicides are often followed by a positive shock in the national suicide rate. Using a unique time series comprising media coverage variables collected from Google News and major news websites, combined with several U.S. national trends from various sources, we estimate the magnitude of the Werther effect in the age of digital news media, where news of celebrity suicide spreads farther and more rapidly. We find a speeding up of this effect, which in the last century was only observed in the month following news coverage. Now, the effect appears slightly more prominent in the month of coverage, though it still persists in the following month. We also find evidence that the Werther effect has diminished in magnitude, perhaps due to the increased normalization of both suicide and celebrity suicide. JEL Classifications : Z13, Z19, I19

Suggested Citation

  • Daniel Ownby & P. Wesley Routon, 2020. "Tragedy Following Tragedies: Estimating the Copycat Effect of Media-Covered Suicide in the Age of Digital News," The American Economist, Sage Publications, vol. 65(2), pages 312-329, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:sae:amerec:v:65:y:2020:i:2:p:312-329
    DOI: 10.1177/0569434519896768
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Fahey, Robert A. & Matsubayashi, Tetsuya & Ueda, Michiko, 2018. "Tracking the Werther Effect on social media: Emotional responses to prominent suicide deaths on twitter and subsequent increases in suicide," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 219(C), pages 19-29.
    2. Jae-Hyun Kim & Eun-Cheol Park & Jung-Mo Nam & SoHee Park & Jaelim Cho & Sun-Jung Kim & Jae-Woo Choi & Eun Cho, 2013. "The Werther Effect of Two Celebrity Suicides: an Entertainer and a Politician," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 8(12), pages 1-1, December.
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    Cited by:

    1. Bonnie Scarth & Jesse M. Bering & Ian Marsh & Vilma Santiago-Irizarry & Karl Andriessen, 2021. "Strategies to Stay Alive: Adaptive Toolboxes for Living Well with Suicidal Behavior," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(15), pages 1-17, July.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    suicide; Werther effect; digital news; internet news; copycat suicide; celebrity suicide;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification
    • Z19 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Other
    • I19 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Other

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