SUICIDE, CLIMATE, AND ECONOMY: A COUNTY-LEVEL ANALYSIS

Authors

  • Elshadai S. Hailu
  • Nathanael D. Peach

Keywords:

Climate, Income, Unemployment, Suicide

Abstract

This study analyzes the impact of income, unemployment, and climate on county level suicide rates in the United States. In order to ensure a robust measure of climate is applied, average temperature and average maximum temperature are analyzed. The data set used in the investigation includes observations from 1999 to 2018 for 2,892 counties. Our results show that increases in income lower the rate of suicide while increases in unemployment raise it. Higher mean and max temperatures are predicted to lower the rate of suicide.

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Published

2021-05-06

Issue

Vol. 21 No. 1 (2021): Journal for Economic Educators

Section

Undergraduate Student Research

License

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