Does corruption affect suicide? Empirical evidence from OECD countries

Yamamura, Eiji and Andrés, Antonio R. (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 1995-1999. Our results indicate 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 that corruption has a detrimental effect on societal well-being.

• 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

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.

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.

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., Yun Jeong Choi, and Yasuyuki Sawada (2009). ‘How Is Suicide Different in Japan?’ Japan and the World Econom,y 21(2), 140-50.

Chuagn, 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 DJ. (2009). Happiness, unhappines and suicide: an empirical assessment. Journal of European Economic Association, 7, 539-549.

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.

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

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.

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.

Lambsdorff, J.G., (2006). Causes and Consequences of Corruption: What do we know from a Cross-Section of Countries? in S. Rose-Ackerman (ed.), International Handbook on the Economics of Corruption, Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar, 2006, 3-51.

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

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

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.

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.