Recessions, Poverty, and Mortality in the United States: 1993–2012

Abstract

Prior studies suggest that higher unemployment rates reduce mortality, but newer research suggests this relationship may have attenuated in recent decades. Moreover, individual-level evidence shows a negative effect of economic adversity on survival. We revisit this question using county-level data and two additional macroeconomic measures: poverty rates and median incomes. Examining county-level mortality among non-elderly adults from 1993-2012, we find that higher unemployment has modest negative impacts on mortality, in contrast to prior work using older state-level data. More notably, county-level poverty rates and lower median incomes produce larger and consistently negative effects on mortality, both in the short-term and also for several years afterwards. These findings are consistent across multiple causes of death and for different subgroups of adults. While previous research has found that higher unemployment may produce small beneficial effects on survival, our analysis using more recent and granular data suggests this relationship no longer holds, and other economic measures such as median income and poverty rates provide stronger evidence that adverse economic conditions lead to higher mortality.JEL Codes: E32, I10, I14, O15

Do Lockdowns Bring about Additional Mortality Benefits or Costs? Evidence based on Death Records from 300 Million Chinese People

“…Additionally, in many countries, the strict virus containment policies led to sudden and sharp economic disruption, causing massive layoffs. 8 As documented in the previous literature, such economic downturns and high unemployment could also damage population health. 9-15 These factors would increase mortality when strict counter-virus measures were enforced.…”

“…This could impact the quality of health services and delay medical treatment, which would negatively impact the population health. Additionally, in many countries, the strict virus containment policies led to sudden and sharp economic disruption, causing massive layoffs 8 . As documented in the previous literature, such economic downturns and high unemployment could also damage population healtht [9][10][11][12][13][14][15] .…”

Quantification of Neighborhood-Level Social Determinants of Health in the Continental United States

“…Disability status by neighborhood proportion was mapped across interpersonal and organizational spheres, reflecting complex interactions within social networks and organizations that are factors in social inclusion. 25 We chose standard economic indicators with known associations with health outcomes, including poverty, 15,16,26 income, 7,27 unemployment, 28,29 education, 4,27,[30][31][32] and health insurance status. 33,34 Educational level and health insurance status are included as service environments in some SDOH conceptual frameworks.…”

Economic Conditions and Drug and Opioid Overdose Deaths

“…However, they did not include other measures such as income per capita or housing prices that capture other aspects of economic conditions. Gordon and Sommers (2016) demonstrated how various economic measures can have different and even opposite effects on health. They found that county-level unemployment rate was associated with small declines in overall mortality consistent with earlier evidence (Ruhm, 2000), but that higher poverty rates and lower median income were associated with larger increases in mortality.…”