An Analysis of the Relationship Between Health Expenditure and Suicide Rate for Senior

Location

CSU 202

Start Date

9-4-2012 2:00 PM

End Date

9-4-2012 3:00 PM

Student's Major

Economics

Student's College

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Mentor's Name

Ihsuan Li

Mentor's Department

Economics

Mentor's College

Social and Behavioral Sciences

Description

Since Hamermesh and Soss (1974) built a framework for the economic study of suicide, many research have tried to explain suicide from the financial and health perspectives. However, none of them specifically examined suicide rate for the elderly population even though suicide rate among senior tends to be higher than the national average. In this research, I will extend the work by Bijou Yang (1992), Hwei-Lin Chuang and Wei-Chial Huang (1997), Jochen Jungeilges and Gebhard Kirchgässner (2002), Camelia Minoiu and Antonio Rodoríguez Andrés (2008), Justin M. Ross, Pavel A.Yakovlev , and Fatima Carson (2010). This study seeks to test if government expenditure on health reduces the suicide rate for senior using cross national data. Data is collected on estimated total death caused by self-inflicted injuries of 1,000 people for 60 years and older population from World Health Organization website for 190 nations. Additional data for health expenditure ratio, per capita health expenditure, and other socio-economic factors at nation’s level are collected from World Health Organization, United Nations, and their member countries. Within a consistent and sound economic theory of suicide, I test the relationship between suicide rates for the 60 and older population and elderly dependency ratio, divorce, income, migration, population density, total fertility rate, unemployment, women’s participation in labor, and expenditure on health. Using Stata SE 11, least squared estimates and fixed-effect (and random effect) methods are used to calculate the marginal impact of the covariates. My findings confirmed the hypothesis that government expenditure on health has a negative and significant effect on suicide rates among senior, holding other relevant factors constant.

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Apr 9th, 2:00 PM Apr 9th, 3:00 PM

An Analysis of the Relationship Between Health Expenditure and Suicide Rate for Senior

CSU 202

Since Hamermesh and Soss (1974) built a framework for the economic study of suicide, many research have tried to explain suicide from the financial and health perspectives. However, none of them specifically examined suicide rate for the elderly population even though suicide rate among senior tends to be higher than the national average. In this research, I will extend the work by Bijou Yang (1992), Hwei-Lin Chuang and Wei-Chial Huang (1997), Jochen Jungeilges and Gebhard Kirchgässner (2002), Camelia Minoiu and Antonio Rodoríguez Andrés (2008), Justin M. Ross, Pavel A.Yakovlev , and Fatima Carson (2010). This study seeks to test if government expenditure on health reduces the suicide rate for senior using cross national data. Data is collected on estimated total death caused by self-inflicted injuries of 1,000 people for 60 years and older population from World Health Organization website for 190 nations. Additional data for health expenditure ratio, per capita health expenditure, and other socio-economic factors at nation’s level are collected from World Health Organization, United Nations, and their member countries. Within a consistent and sound economic theory of suicide, I test the relationship between suicide rates for the 60 and older population and elderly dependency ratio, divorce, income, migration, population density, total fertility rate, unemployment, women’s participation in labor, and expenditure on health. Using Stata SE 11, least squared estimates and fixed-effect (and random effect) methods are used to calculate the marginal impact of the covariates. My findings confirmed the hypothesis that government expenditure on health has a negative and significant effect on suicide rates among senior, holding other relevant factors constant.

Recommended Citation

Jeong, Hanako Maruyama. "An Analysis of the Relationship Between Health Expenditure and Suicide Rate for Senior." Undergraduate Research Symposium, Mankato, MN, April 9, 2012.
https://cornerstone.lib.mnsu.edu/urs/2012/oral-session-11/4