IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cfi/fseres/cf542.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

COVID-19 and Suicide in Japan

Author

Listed:
  • Quentin Batista

    (MIT)

  • Daisuke Fujii

    (University of Tokyo and RIETI)

  • Taisuke Nakata

    (University of Tokyo)

  • Takeki Sunakawa

    (Hitotsubashi University)

Abstract

We quantify the effects of the COVID-19 crisis on suicides in Japan using a time-series model relating the number of suicides to the unemployment rate as well as private-sector forecasts of the unemployment rate before the crisis. We find that (i) the COVID-19 crisis increased suicides in Japan by about 7,000 from March 2020 to April 2022, (ii) the increase in the unemployment rate can only account for one third of the excess suicides, (iii) the excess suicides are skewed towards younger generations and female, and (iv) lost years of life expectancy associated with the excess suicides are almost as large as those associated with COVID-19 deaths.

Suggested Citation

  • Quentin Batista & Daisuke Fujii & Taisuke Nakata & Takeki Sunakawa, 2022. "COVID-19 and Suicide in Japan," CARF F-Series CARF-F-542, Center for Advanced Research in Finance, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo.
    • Handle: RePEc:cfi:fseres:cf542
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.carf.e.u-tokyo.ac.jp/wp/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/F542.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Daiji Kawaguchi & Sagiri Kitao & Manabu Nose, 2022. "The impact of COVID-19 on Japanese firms: mobility and resilience via remote work," International Tax and Public Finance, Springer;International Institute of Public Finance, vol. 29(6), pages 1419-1449, December.
    2. Kikuchi, Shinnosuke & Kitao, Sagiri & Mikoshiba, Minamo, 2021. "Who suffers from the COVID-19 shocks? Labor market heterogeneity and welfare consequences in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    3. Mark Gertler & Peter Karadi, 2015. "Monetary Policy Surprises, Credit Costs, and Economic Activity," American Economic Journal: Macroeconomics, American Economic Association, vol. 7(1), pages 44-76, January.
    4. Takanao Tanaka & Shohei Okamoto, 2021. "Increase in suicide following an initial decline during the COVID-19 pandemic in Japan," Nature Human Behaviour, Nature, vol. 5(2), pages 229-238, February.
    5. Masato Ikeda & Shintaro Yamaguchi, 2021. "Online learning during school closure due to COVID-19," The Japanese Economic Review, Springer, vol. 72(3), pages 471-507, July.
    6. Refet S Gürkaynak & Brian Sack & Eric Swanson, 2005. "Do Actions Speak Louder Than Words? The Response of Asset Prices to Monetary Policy Actions and Statements," International Journal of Central Banking, International Journal of Central Banking, vol. 1(1), May.
    7. Kawaguchi, Daiji & Motegi, Hiroyuki, 2021. "Who can work from home? The roles of job tasks and HRM practices," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    8. Tsutomu Watanabe & Yuki Omori, 2021. "Online Consumption During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Japan," CARF F-Series CARF-F-524, Center for Advanced Research in Finance, Faculty of Economics, The University of Tokyo.
    9. Chen, Joe & Choi, Yun Jeong & Sawada, Yasuyuki, 2009. "How is suicide different in Japan?," Japan and the World Economy, Elsevier, vol. 21(2), pages 140-150, March.
    10. Tsutomu Watanabe & Yuki Omori, 2021. "Online Consumption During and After the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from Japan," Working Papers on Central Bank Communication 035, University of Tokyo, Graduate School of Economics.
    11. Michihito Ando & Masato Furuichi, 2022. "The association of COVID-19 employment shocks with suicide and safety net use: An early-stage investigation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(3), pages 1-26, March.
    12. Takaku, Reo & Yokoyama, Izumi, 2021. "What the COVID-19 school closure left in its wake: Evidence from a regression discontinuity analysis in Japan," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 195(C).
    13. Shinsuke Asakawa & Fumio Ohtake, 2021. "Impact of Temporary School Closure Due to COVID-19 on the Academic Achievement of Elementary School Students," Discussion Papers in Economics and Business 21-14, Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics.
    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. Fukai, Taiyo & Ikeda, Masato & Kawaguchi, Daiji & Yamaguchi, Shintaro, 2023. "COVID-19 and the employment gender gap in Japan," Journal of the Japanese and International Economies, Elsevier, vol. 68(C).
    2. Michihito Ando & Masato Furuichi, 2022. "The association of COVID-19 employment shocks with suicide and safety net use: An early-stage investigation," PLOS ONE, Public Library of Science, vol. 17(3), pages 1-26, March.
    3. MORIKAWA Masayuki, 2022. "Productivity Dynamics of Work from Home since the Onset of the COVID-19 Pandemic: Evidence from a panel of firm surveys," Discussion papers 22061, Research Institute of Economy, Trade and Industry (RIETI).
    4. Fukai, Taiyo & Ikeda, Masato & Kawaguchi, Daiji & Yamaguchi, Shintaro, 2021. "COVID-19 and the Employment Gender Gap," IZA Discussion Papers 14711, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    5. Falk Bräuning & Viacheslav Sheremirov, 2019. "Output Spillovers from U.S. Monetary Policy: The Role of International Trade and Financial Linkages," Working Papers 19-15, Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
    6. Swanson, Eric T., 2021. "Measuring the effects of federal reserve forward guidance and asset purchases on financial markets," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 32-53.
    7. Svaleryd, Helena & Vlachos, Jonas, 2022. "COVID-19 and School Closures," GLO Discussion Paper Series 1008, Global Labor Organization (GLO).
    8. Neuhierl, Andreas & Weber, Michael, 2019. "Monetary policy communication, policy slope, and the stock market," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(C), pages 140-155.
    9. Bu, Chunya & Rogers, John & Wu, Wenbin, 2021. "A unified measure of Fed monetary policy shocks," Journal of Monetary Economics, Elsevier, vol. 118(C), pages 331-349.
    10. repec:hal:spmain:info:hdl:2441/3mgbd73vkp9f9oje7utooe7vpg is not listed on IDEAS
    11. Dedola, Luca & Rivolta, Giulia & Stracca, Livio, 2017. "If the Fed sneezes, who catches a cold?," Journal of International Economics, Elsevier, vol. 108(S1), pages 23-41.
    12. Brubakk, Leif & ter Ellen, Saskia & Robstad, Ørjan & Xu, Hong, 2022. "The macroeconomic effects of forward communication," Journal of International Money and Finance, Elsevier, vol. 120(C).
    13. Nittai K. Bergman & David Matsa & Michael Weber & Michael Weber, 2022. "Inclusive Monetary Policy: How Tight Labor Markets Facilitate Broad-Based Employment Growth," CESifo Working Paper Series 9512, CESifo.
    14. Shang, Fei, 2022. "The effect of uncertainty on the sensitivity of the yield curve to monetary policy surprises," Journal of Economic Dynamics and Control, Elsevier, vol. 137(C).
    15. Nihar Shah, 2022. "Doubly heterogeneous monetary spillovers," International Finance, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 25(2), pages 126-150, August.
    16. Tatjana Dahlhaus & Luca Gambetti, 2018. "Noisy Monetary Policy," Staff Working Papers 18-23, Bank of Canada.
    17. Paul Hubert & Fabien Labondance, 2016. "Central Bank Sentiment and Policy Expectations," SciencePo Working papers Main hal-03459227, HAL.
    18. Ricardo Lagos & Shengxing Zhang, 2020. "Turnover Liquidity and the Transmission of Monetary Policy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 110(6), pages 1635-1672, June.
    19. Emi Nakamura & Jón Steinsson, 2018. "Identification in Macroeconomics," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 32(3), pages 59-86, Summer.
    20. Masayuki Morikawa, 2023. "Productivity dynamics of remote work during the COVID‐19 pandemic," Industrial Relations: A Journal of Economy and Society, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 62(3), pages 317-331, July.
    21. Ostapenko, Nataliia, 2020. "Central Bank Communication: Information and Policy shocks," MPRA Paper 101278, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 21 Jun 2020.

    More about this item

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    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:cfi:fseres:cf542. 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: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/catokjp.html .

    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.