IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/cge/wacage/338.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Antidepressants for Economists and Business-School Researchers: An Introduction and Review

Author

Listed:
  • Katolik, Aleksandra

    (University of Warwick)

  • Oswald, Andrew J.

    (University of Warwick and IZA)

Abstract

The antidepressant pill is an important modern commodity. Its growing role in the world has been largely ignored by researchers in economics departments and business schools. Scholars may be unaware how many citizens and employees now take these pills. Here we review some of the social-science literature on the topic. We discuss research on the impact of advertising upon antidepressant consumption, the link between antidepressants and the human ‘midlife crisis’, and evidence on how antidepressants are connected to crime, suicide, and financial hardship. We argue that antidepressants will eventually have to be modelled as a new form of consumption that lies in the currently grey area between medicines and consumer goods. This topic demands scholarly and societal attention.

Suggested Citation

  • Katolik, Aleksandra & Oswald, Andrew J., 2017. "Antidepressants for Economists and Business-School Researchers: An Introduction and Review," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 338, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    • Handle: RePEc:cge:wacage:338
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www2.warwick.ac.uk/fac/soc/economics/research/centres/cage/manage/publications/338-2017_oswald.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Blanchflower, David G & Oswald, Andrew, 2011. "Antidepressants and Age," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 44, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    2. Ludwig, Jens & Marcotte, Dave E. & Norberg, Karen, 2009. "Anti-depressants and suicide," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(3), pages 659-676, May.
    3. Sleath, Betsy & Tina Shih, Ya-Chen, 2003. "Sociological influences on antidepressant prescribing," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 56(6), pages 1335-1344, March.
    4. Susan Busch & Ezra Golberstein & Ellen Meara, 2011. "The FDA and ABCs: The Unintended Consequences of Antidepressant Warnings on Human Capital," NBER Working Papers 17426, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2008. "Is well-being U-shaped over the life cycle?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(8), pages 1733-1749, April.
    6. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2016. "Antidepressants and age: A new form of evidence for U-shaped well-being through life," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 46-58.
    7. Lin, Haizhen & Ketcham, Jonathan D. & Rosenquist, James N. & Simon, Kosali I., 2013. "Financial distress and use of mental health care: Evidence from antidepressant prescription claims," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 121(3), pages 449-453.
    8. Marisa E. Domino, 2012. "Does managed care affect the diffusion of psychotropic medications?," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 21(4), pages 428-443, April.
    9. Gunnell, David & Middleton, Nicos & Whitley, Elise & Dorling, Daniel & Frankel, Stephen, 2003. "Why are suicide rates rising in young men but falling in the elderly?--a time-series analysis of trends in England and Wales 1950-1998," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 57(4), pages 595-611, August.
    10. Moncrieff, Joanna, 2008. "The creation of the concept of an antidepressant: An historical analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(11), pages 2346-2355, June.
    11. Bruno S. Frey, 2018. "Economics of Happiness," SpringerBriefs in Economics, Springer, number 978-3-319-75807-7, April.
    12. Meyerhoefer Chad D. & Zuvekas Samuel H, 2008. "The Shape of Demand: What Does It Tell Us about Direct-to-Consumer Marketing of Antidepressants?," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 8(2), pages 1-34, January.
    13. Jens Ludwig & Dave E. Marcotte, 2005. "Anti-depressants, suicide, and drug regulation," Journal of Policy Analysis and Management, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 24(2), pages 249-272.
    14. Kuhn, Andreas & Lalive, Rafael & Zweimüller, Josef, 2009. "The public health costs of job loss," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 28(6), pages 1099-1115, December.
    15. Askitas, Nikos & Zimmermann, Klaus F., 2011. "Health and Well-Being in the Crisis," IZA Discussion Papers 5601, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Easterlin, Richard A., 1974. "Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidence," MPRA Paper 111773, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    17. Markowitz, Sara & Cuellar, Alison, 2007. "Antidepressants and youth: Healing or harmful?," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 64(10), pages 2138-2151, May.
    18. Offer, Avner, 2007. "The Challenge of Affluence: Self-Control and Well-Being in the United States and Britain since 1950," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199216628.
    19. Avery, Rosemary J. & Eisenberg, Matthew D. & Simon, Kosali I., 2012. "The impact of direct-to-consumer television and magazine advertising on antidepressant use," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 31(5), pages 705-718.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Strulik, Holger, 2019. "An economic theory of depression and its impact on health behavior and longevity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 269-287.

    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. Katolik, Aleksandra & Oswald, Andrew J., 2017. "Antidepressants for Economists and Business-School Researchers: An Introduction and Review," Die Unternehmung - Swiss Journal of Business Research and Practice, Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG, vol. 71(4), pages 448-463.
    2. Blanchflower, David G & Oswald, Andrew, 2011. "Antidepressants and Age," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 44, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    3. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2016. "Antidepressants and age: A new form of evidence for U-shaped well-being through life," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 127(C), pages 46-58.
    4. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald & Bert Van Landeghem, 2009. "Imitative Obesity and Relative Utility," Journal of the European Economic Association, MIT Press, vol. 7(2-3), pages 528-538, 04-05.
    5. Blanchflower, David G. & Oswald, Andrew J., 2008. "Hypertension and happiness across nations," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 218-233, March.
    6. David G. Blanchflower & Andrew J. Oswald, 2011. "International Happiness," NBER Working Papers 16668, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Stefano Bartolini & Ennio Bilancini & Francesco Sarracino, 2013. "Predicting the Trend of Well-Being in Germany: How Much Do Comparisons, Adaptation and Sociability Matter?," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 114(2), pages 169-191, November.
    8. Robert J. B. Goudie & Sach Mukherjee & Jan-Emmanuel De Neve & Andrew J. Oswald & Stephen Wu, 2011. "Happiness as a Driver of Risk-Avoiding Behavior," CESifo Working Paper Series 3451, CESifo.
    9. Biermann, Philipp & Bitzer, Jürgen & Gören, Erkan, 2022. "The relationship between age and subjective well-being: Estimating within and between effects simultaneously," The Journal of the Economics of Ageing, Elsevier, vol. 21(C).
    10. Andrew J. Oswald, 2010. "Emotional Prosperity and the Stiglitz Commission," British Journal of Industrial Relations, London School of Economics, vol. 48(4), pages 651-669, December.
    11. Emiliano Sironi, 2019. "Job satisfaction as a determinant of employees’ optimal well-being in an instrumental variable approach," Quality & Quantity: International Journal of Methodology, Springer, vol. 53(4), pages 1721-1742, July.
    12. Lucía Macchia & Anke C. Plagnol, 2019. "Life Satisfaction and Confidence in National Institutions: Evidence from South America," Applied Research in Quality of Life, Springer;International Society for Quality-of-Life Studies, vol. 14(3), pages 721-736, July.
    13. Andrew J. Oswald & Stephen Wu, 2011. "Well-Being across America," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 93(4), pages 1118-1134, November.
    14. Kamal Kasmaoui, 2020. "What makes Moroccans happy: A micro-data study," Working Papers hal-02956855, HAL.
    15. Thomas Markussen & Maria Fibæk & Finn Tarp & Nguyen Do Anh Tuan, 2018. "The Happy Farmer: Self-Employment and Subjective Well-Being in Rural Vietnam," Journal of Happiness Studies, Springer, vol. 19(6), pages 1613-1636, August.
    16. Montizaan, Raymond M. & Vendrik, Maarten C.M., 2014. "Misery Loves Company: Exogenous shocks in retirement expectations and social comparison effects on subjective well-being," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 97(C), pages 1-26.
    17. Beja, Edsel Jr., 2011. "Subjective well-being approach to the valuation of income inequality," MPRA Paper 34177, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. Strulik, Holger, 2019. "An economic theory of depression and its impact on health behavior and longevity," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 269-287.
    19. Luis Diaz‐Serrano & Andrés Rodríguez‐Pose, 2012. "Decentralization, Subjective Well‐Being, and the Perception of Institutions," Kyklos, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 65(2), pages 179-193, May.
    20. Rodríguez-Pose, Andrés & Diaz-Serrano, Luis, 2011. "Decentralization, Happiness, and the Perception of Institutions," CEPR Discussion Papers 8356, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Well-being; depression; medications; happiness. JEL Classification: I1; I120; I3; I310;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • I3 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty

    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:cge:wacage:338. 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: Jane Snape (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dewaruk.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.