Are recessions harmful to health after all? Evidence from the European Union

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the effects of national unemployment rates on overall age and cause‐specific mortality rates in a panel sample of 13 European Union countries.

Design/methodology/approach

A fixed‐effects model is used to control for unobserved time‐invariant characteristics within countries. In addition, controls such as lifestyle risk factors, urbanisation and medical intervention indicators, for potential confounders are used.

Findings

Contrary to some recent evidence this study shows that there is a strong, positive relationship between adverse economic conditions and mortality. This is in contrast to findings about the US case.

Originality/value

This paper revisits the issue of the unemployment‐mortality relationship by utilising fixed effect models with controls for various indicators that are expected to affect mortality, in contrast to previous studies.

Citation

Economou, A., Nikolaou, A. and Theodossiou, I. (2008), "Are recessions harmful to health after all? Evidence from the European Union", Journal of Economic Studies, Vol. 35 No. 5, pp. 368-384. https://doi.org/10.1108/01443580810903536