IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nki/wpaper/25.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Suicide in the Hungarian Kingdom

Author

Listed:
  • Lajos Bálint

    (Hungarian Demographic Research Institute)

Abstract

This paper tests the theses of Durkheim’s classical work (Suicide) and those of other early sociological theories by analysing district-level data of the Hungarian Kingdom at the beginning of the 20th century. So far, there have been few attempts of analysing spatial and historical suicide data for Hungary so far. Previous studies, based on qualitative sources, parish registers or using the literature of the period as a historical source, lacked the opportunities afforded by statistical analysis. The analysis of the Hungarian Kingdom has proven to be a rewarding exercise and made it possible to raise questions that thus far have received little attention in the scientific community. Spatial analysis makes it clear that – in contrast to the widespread opinion – not only the Great Plain can be regarded as particularly prone to high suicide rates but some regions in Transylvania were also characterised by a high frequency of suicide. The results of the spatial models generally verified Durkheim’s propositions. Both basic types of suicide in the Durkheimian theory, egoist and anomie-type suicides, were found to be crucial in explaining the spatial differences of suicide in the Hungarian Kingdom. All indicators referring to social change (e.g. the share of industrial workers, divorce rate) increased the probability of suicide, whereas variables signalling strong traditional community ties or high levels of integration diminished it. However, as opposed to Durkheim’s theory, spatial and ethnic factors were found to be more important. The concept of the imitative character of suicide or the role of adaptation to (or acceptance of) this kind of behaviour in its spatial spread proved to be important in better understanding the mechanisms of suicide. The ethno-linguistic variables highlighted the influence of cultural-normative factors among the driving forces of suicide. Durkheim clearly rejected the influence of ethnicity in suicide; whereas this study attributed a shared suicide culture to linguistic groups.

Suggested Citation

  • Lajos Bálint, 2016. "Suicide in the Hungarian Kingdom," Working Papers on Population, Family and Welfare 25, Hungarian Demographic Research Institute.
    • Handle: RePEc:nki:wpaper:25
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.demografia.hu/en/publicationsonline/index.php/workingpapers/article/view/910/685
    File Function: First version, 2016
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Anselin, Luc & Bera, Anil K. & Florax, Raymond & Yoon, Mann J., 1996. "Simple diagnostic tests for spatial dependence," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 26(1), pages 77-104, February.
    2. Sonneck, G. & Etzersdorfer, E. & Nagel-Kuess, S., 1994. "Imitative suicide on the Viennese subway," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 38(3), pages 453-457, February.
    3. Anselin, Luc, 2002. "Under the hood : Issues in the specification and interpretation of spatial regression models," Agricultural Economics, Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 247-267, November.
    4. Anders Barstad, 2008. "Explaining Changing Suicide Rates in Norway 1948–2004: The Role of Social Integration," Social Indicators Research: An International and Interdisciplinary Journal for Quality-of-Life Measurement, Springer, vol. 87(1), pages 47-64, May.
    5. A Getis, 1991. "Spatial Interaction and Spatial Autocorrelation: A Cross-Product Approach," Environment and Planning A, , vol. 23(9), pages 1269-1277, September.
    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. repec:asg:wpaper:1006 is not listed on IDEAS
    2. David Maddison, 2009. "A Spatio‐temporal Model of Farmland Values," Journal of Agricultural Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 60(1), pages 171-189, February.
    3. Kent Kovacs & Thomas Holmes & Jeffrey Englin & Janice Alexander, 2011. "The Dynamic Response of Housing Values to a Forest Invasive Disease: Evidence from a Sudden Oak Death Infestation," Environmental & Resource Economics, Springer;European Association of Environmental and Resource Economists, vol. 49(3), pages 445-471, July.
    4. Raymond J.G.M. Florax & Peter Nijkamp, 2003. "Misspecification in Linear Spatial Regression Models," Tinbergen Institute Discussion Papers 03-081/3, Tinbergen Institute.
    5. Keller, Wolfgang & Shiue, Carol H., 2007. "The origin of spatial interaction," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 140(1), pages 304-332, September.
    6. Ahmad, Mahyudin & Siong Hook, Law, 2022. "Financial development, institutions, and economic growth nexus: A spatial econometrics analysis using geographical and institutional proximities," MPRA Paper 114471, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    7. Herrera Gómez, Marcos & Cid, Juan Carlos & Paz, Jorge Augusto, 2012. "Introducción a la econometría espacial: Una aplicación al estudio de la fecundidad en la Argentina usando R [Introduction to Spatial Econometrics: An application to the study of fertility in Argent," MPRA Paper 41138, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    8. Bernd Jost, 2012. "Price Dispersion, Search Costs and Spatial Competition: Evidence from the Austrian Retail Gasoline Market," NEURUS papers neurusp166, NEURUS - Network of European and US Regional and Urban Studies.
    9. Diana Mitsova & Ann-Margaret Esnard & Alka Sapat & Betty S. Lai, 2018. "Socioeconomic vulnerability and electric power restoration timelines in Florida: the case of Hurricane Irma," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 94(2), pages 689-709, November.
    10. Stanislav Stakhovych & Tammo H.A. Bijmolt, 2009. "Specification of spatial models: A simulation study on weights matrices," Papers in Regional Science, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 88(2), pages 389-408, June.
    11. Hong Hiep Hoang & Cong Minh Huynh & Nguyen Minh Huy Duong & Ngoc Hoe Chau, 2022. "Determinants of foreign direct investment in Southern Central Coast of Vietnam: a spatial econometric analysis," Economic Change and Restructuring, Springer, vol. 55(1), pages 285-310, February.
    12. Adjemian, Michael K. & Cynthia Lin, C.-Y. & Williams, Jeffrey, 2010. "Estimating spatial interdependence in automobile type choice with survey data," Transportation Research Part A: Policy and Practice, Elsevier, vol. 44(9), pages 661-675, November.
    13. Paul Feichtinger & Klaus Salhofer, 2016. "The Fischler Reform of the Common Agricultural Policy and Agricultural Land Prices," Land Economics, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 92(3), pages 411-432.
    14. Morton, Craig & Wilson, Charlie & Anable, Jillian, 2018. "The diffusion of domestic energy efficiency policies: A spatial perspective," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 114(C), pages 77-88.
    15. Morton, Craig & Anable, Jillian & Yeboah, Godwin & Cottrill, Caitlin, 2018. "The spatial pattern of demand in the early market for electric vehicles: Evidence from the United Kingdom," Journal of Transport Geography, Elsevier, vol. 72(C), pages 119-130.
    16. Löchl, Michael & Axhausen, Kay W., 2010. "Modelling hedonic residential rents for land use and transport simulation while considering spatial effects," The Journal of Transport and Land Use, Center for Transportation Studies, University of Minnesota, vol. 3(2), pages 39-63.
    17. Maria Francesca Cracolici & Miranda Cuffaro & Peter Nijkamp, 2007. "Geographical Distribution of Unemployment: An Analysis of Provincial Differences in Italy," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 38(4), pages 649-670, December.
    18. Esiyok, Bulent & Ugur, Mehmet, 2011. "Foreign direct investment in provinces: A spatial regression approach to FDI in Vietnam," Greenwich Papers in Political Economy 7893, University of Greenwich, Greenwich Political Economy Research Centre.
    19. Ahmad, Mahyudin & Hall, Stephen G., 2017. "Economic growth and convergence: Do institutional proximity and spillovers matter?," Journal of Policy Modeling, Elsevier, vol. 39(6), pages 1065-1085.
    20. Travnikar, Tanja & Juvančič, Luka, 2013. "Application of spatial econometric approach in the evaluation of rural development policy: the case of measure Modernisation of agricultural holdings," Studies in Agricultural Economics, Research Institute for Agricultural Economics, vol. 115(2), pages 1-7, June.
    21. Yihua Yu & Jing Wang & Xi Tian, 2016. "Identifying the Flypaper Effect in the Presence of Spatial Dependence: Evidence from Education in China's Counties," Growth and Change, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 47(1), pages 93-110, March.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Historical demography; Suicide;

    JEL classification:

    • I30 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General

    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:nki:wpaper:25. 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: Andrea Fekete-Csiszar (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://demografia.hu/en/ .

    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.