Does corruption affect suicide? Empirical evidence from OECD countries

Yamamura, Eiji and Andrés, Antonio R. and Katsaiti, Marina (2011): Does corruption affect suicide? Empirical evidence from OECD countries.

Abstract

The question to what extent corruption influences suicide remains still unanswered. This paper examines the effect of corruption on suicide using a panel data approach for 24 OECD countries over the period 1995-2004. Our results show that suicide rates are lower in countries with lower levels of corruption. We also find evidence that this effect is approximately three times larger for males than for females. It follows from these findings that corruption has a detrimental effect on societal well-being and its effect differs based on the social position of genders.

• Item Type: MPRA Paper
• Language: English
• Keywords: Corruption, Panel data, Suicide, Well- Being, OECD
• Subjects: D - Microeconomics > D7 - Analysis of Collective Decision-Making > D73 - Bureaucracy ; Administrative Processes in Public Organizations ; Corruption; H - Public Economics > H7 - State and Local Government ; Intergovernmental Relations > H75 - State and Local Government: Health ; Education ; Welfare ; Public Pensions; I - Health, Education, and Welfare > I1 - Health > I18 - Government Policy ; Regulation ; Public Health

References

Alesina, A., Di Tella, R. & MacCulloch, R. (2004). Inequality and happiness: Are Europeans and Americans different? Journal of Public Economics, 88, 2009-2042.

Anbarci, N., Escaleras, M., & Register, C.A. (2006). Traffic fatalities and public sector corruption. Kyklos, 59(3), 327-344.

Anbarci,N., Escaleras,M. & Register, C.A. (2009). The ill effects of public sector corruption in the water and sanitation sector, Land Economics, 85(2), 363-377.

Andrés, A.R. (2005). Income inequality, unemployment, and suicide: a panel data analysis of 15 European countries. Applied Economics, 3, 439-451.

Andrés, A.R., Halicioglu, F., & Yamamura, E. (2011). Socio-economic determinants of suicide in Japan. forthcoming in Journal of Socio-Economics.

Andvig, J.C. (2005). A House of Straw, Sticks or Bricks. Some Notes on Corruption Empirics, Paper presented at the IV Global Forum on Fighting Corruption and Safeguarding Integrity, June 2005.

Babones, S.J., & Alvarez-Rivadulla, M.J. (2007). Standardized income inequality data for use in cross-national research. Sociological Inquiry, 77, 3-22.

Baltagi, B. (2005). Econometric Analysis of Panel Data, John Wiley and Sons.

Bertrand, M., & Mullainathan, S. (2001). Do people mean what they say? implications for subjective survey data. American Economic Review, 91(2), 67–72.

Bjørnskov, C., Dreher, A. & Fischer, J. (2008). Cross-country determinants of life satisfaction: Exploring different determinants across groups in society. Social Choice and Welfare, 30, 119-173.

Bjørnskov, C., Dreher, A. & Fischer, J. (2010). Formal institutions and subjective well-being. Revisiting the cross country evidence. European Journal of Political Economy, 26, 419-430.

Blanchflower D.G. & Oswald A.J. (2000). Well-being over time in Britain and the USA. NBER Working Papers 7487, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.

Brainerd, E. (2001). Economic reform and mortality in the former Soviet Union: A study of the suicide epidemic in the 1990s. European Economic Review, 45, 1007-1019.

Chen, J., Choi Y.J., & Sawada, Y. (2009). How is suicide different in Japan? Japan and the World Economy 21(2), 140-50.

Chuang, H.L, & Huang, W.C. (2007). A Re-examination of the suicide rates in Taiwan. Social Indicators Research, 83(3), 465-485.

Delavallade, C. (2006). Corruption and distribution of public spending in developing countries. Journal of Economic Finance, 30, 222-239.

Daly M, & Wilson, D.J. (2009). Happiness, unhappiness and suicide: an empirical assessment. Journal of European Economic Association, 7, 539-549.

Durkheim, E. (1966). Suicide. New York: Free Press.

Easterlin, R.A. (1974). Does economic growth improve the human lot? in Paul A. David and Melvin W. Reder, eds., Nations and Households in Economic Growth: Essays in Honor of Moses Abramovitz, New York: Academic Press, Inc.

Easterlin, R.A. (1995). Will raising the incomes of all increase the happiness of all? Journal of Economic Behavior and Organization, 27(1), 35-48.

Easterlin, R.A. (2003). Explaining Happiness. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 100:19, September 16, 11176-11183.

Escaleras, M., Anbarci, N., & Register, C.A. (2007). Public sector corruption and major earthquakes: A potentially deadly interaction. Public Choice, 132(1), 209-230.

Fischer, J.A.V., & Rodríguez, A. (2008). Political institutions and suicide: A regional analysis of Switzerland. TWI Research Paper. Universitat Konstanz.

Frey, B. & Stutzer, A. (2000). Happiness, economy and institutions. Economic Journal, 110, 918-938.

Glaeser, E.L. & Saks, R.E. (2006). Corruption in America. Journal of Public Economics, 90, 1053-1072.

Gupta S., Davoodi, H., & Tiongson E. (2000). Corruption and the provision of health care and education services. IMF Working Paper WP/00/116.

Hamermersh, D. S. (1974). The economics of black suicide, Southern Economic Journal, 41, 188-99.

Hamermersh, D. S., & Soss, N.M. (1974). An economic theory of suicide. Journal of Political Economy, 82, 83-98.

Helliwell, J.F. (2007). Well-being and social capital. Does suicide post a puzzle? Social Indicators Research, 455-496.

Helliwell, J.F., & Huang, H. (2008). How’s your government? International evidence linking good government and well-being. British Journal of Political Science, 38, 595-619.

Helliwell, J.F., & Putnam, R.D. (2004). The social context of well-being. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, 359, 1435-1446.

Kahn, M.E. (2005). The death toll from natural disasters: the role of income, geography, and institutions. Review of Economics and Statistics, 87, 271-284.

Kasser, T., & Ryan, R. M. (1993). A dark side of the American dream: correlates of financial success as a central life aspiration. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 65, 410-422.

Kawachi, I. & Kennedy, P.B (1997). Health and social cohesion: Why care about income inequality? British Medical Journal, 314, 1037-1040.

Koivumaa-Honkanen, H., Honkanen, R., Viinamki, H., Heikkil, J., Kaprio, J., & Koskenvuo M. (2001). Life satisfaction and suicide: a 20-year follow-up study. The American Journal of Psychiatry, 158, 433-459.

Kunce, M., & Anderson, A.L. (2002). The impact of socio-economic factors on state suicide rates: A methodological note. Urban Studies, 39, 155-162.

Kurer O. (1993). Clientelism, corruption, and the allocation of resources. Public Choice, 77, 259-273.

Mauro, P. (1995). Corruption and growth. The Quarterly Journal of Economics, 110(3), 681-712.

Mauro, P. (1996). The effects of corruption on growth, investment, and government expenditure. IMF Working Papers 96/98, International Monetary Fund.

Mauro, P. (1998). Corruption and the composition of government expenditure. Journal of Public Economics 69, 263-279.

Mellor, J.M. & Milyo, J. (2001). Re-examining the ecological association between income inequality and health, Journal of Health Politics, Policy and Law, 26, 487-522.

Minoiu, C., & Andrés, A.R. (2008). The effect of public spending on suicide: Evidence from US state data. Journal of Socio-Economics, 37(1), 237-261.

Mo, P.H. (2001). Corruption and economic growth. Journal of Comparative Economics, 29, 66-79.

Neumayer, E. (2003a). Socioeconomic factors and suicide rates at large unit aggregate levels: A comment. Urban Studies, 40, 2769-2776.

Neumayer, E. (2003b). Are socioeconomic factors valid determinants of suicide? Controlling for national cultures of suicide with fixed effects estimation. Cross-Cultural Research, 37, 307-329.

Noh, Y.H. (2009). Does unemployment increase suicide rates? The OECD panel evidence. Journal of Economic Psychology, 30, 575-582.

Ott, J.C. (2010). Good governance and happiness in nations: Technical quality precedes democracy and quality beats size. Journal of Happiness Studies, 11, 353-368.

Rodríguez, A. (2006). Inequality and suicide mortality: a cross country study. Development Research Working Paper Series 13/2006, Institute for Advanced Development Studies.

Rothstein, B., & Uslaner E.M. (2005).Equality, corruption, and social trust. World Politics, 18, 1, 41-72.

Tavits, M. (2008). Representation, corruption, and subjective well-being.Comparative Political Studies, 41(6), 1607-1630.

Wilkinson, R.G. (1996). Unhealthy Societies: The Afflictions of Inequality. Routledge: London World Bank. (2006). World Development Indicators, CD-ROM, Washington, DC: World Bank.

Yamamura, E. (2010). The different impacts of socio-economic factors on suicide between males and females. Applied Economics Letters, 17, 1009–1012.

You J.S. (2005). Corruption and inequality as correlates of social trust: Fairness matters more than similarity. The Hausen Center for Nonprofit Organizations and The John F. Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, Working Paper No. 29.

You, J.S., & Khagram, S. (2005). A comparative study of inequality and corruption. American Sociological Review, 70, 1, 136-157.