We examine the link between employment status and suicide risk using a panel of US states from 1996 to 2005 with monthly data on suicides, the duration of unemployment spells and the number of job losses associated with mass layoff events. The use of aggregate data at the monthly level along with the distribution of unemployment duration allows us to separate the effect of job loss from the effect of unemployment duration, an important distinction for policy purposes, especially for the timing of potential interventions. Our results are consistent with unemployment duration being the dominant force in the relationship between job loss and suicide. Nevertheless, mass layoffs may be powerful localized events where suicide risk increases shortly afterward. Implications for the design of unemployment insurance are discussed.

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This research provides estimates of the intergenerational persistence of Body Mass Index (BMI) between women and their children when both are at similar stages of the lifecycle. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 (NLSY79) and the Young Adults of the NLSY79, associations between the weight status of women and their children are measured when both generations are between the ages of 16 and 24. In the entire sample, the measured intergenerational correlation of BMI is significantly different from zero and equal to 0.35. This result differs by gender with a BMI correlation between female children and their mothers of 0.38, compared to a significantly lower BMI correlation of 0.32 between mothers and their sons. Measures of this relationship across the distribution of BMI using quantile regression and quadrant dependence techniques indicate that the intergenerational persistence of BMI is strongest at higher levels of BMI. Strong dependence across generations is found when categorical outcomes of obesity and overweight are implemented. These results provide evidence of the strong persistence of weight problems across generations which may affect economic mobility within families. KeywordsIntergenerational Mobility; Obesity; Quantile Regression Both the genetic traits and household environments shared by parents and children influence the intergenerational transmission of health capital, which may influence economic success for both generations. The goal of this paper is to provide estimates of the intergenerational persistence of one form of health capital, weight status. The influence of obesity on income, wealth and other measures of socioeconomic status has been documented in recent research (e.g., Cawley (2004) and Zagorsky (2005)). Thus, the transmission of weight problems between generations may provide a mechanism to explain a portion of the relatively high degree of persistence in economic status found in Solon (1992) and Zimmerman (1992). 1 aCorresponding author: Tel. +1 (312) 915-6184. tclass1@luc.edu Address: 1 E. Pearson St., Chicago, IL 60611 USA. * This research was supported by a grant from the National Institutes of Health under Ruth L. Kirschstein National Research Service Award T32 MH18029-21 from the National Institute of Mental Health. I thank Bobbi Wolfe, John Mullahy, six anonymous referees and the editor John Komlos for comments on previous versions of this paper. Any remaining errors are the responsibility of the author.Publisher's Disclaimer: This is a PDF file of an unedited manuscript that has been accepted for publication. As a service to our customers we are providing this early version of the manuscript. The manuscript will undergo copyediting, typesetting, and review of the resulting proof before it is published in its final citable form. Please note that during the production process errors may be discovered which could affect the content, and all legal disclaimers that apply to the journal pertain. 1 Bowles & Gintis (2002) Various dimensions of hea...

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