Do Suicide Rates Correlate with the Gini Coefficient and Gross Domestic Product?

Abstract

This paper uses a least squares regression model to investigate the relationship between suicide rates, the Gini coefficient, and gross domestic product (GDP). It looks to build the basis for challenging contemporary economic theory’s emphasis on GDP and other traditional methods of measuring human welfare. Suicide rates are considered to be inversely related to human welfare and thus to GDP, while Gini coefficients are similarly seen as negatively correlated to welfare and ceteris paribus. The result of the study was statistically inconclusive.

Keywords: Suicide Rates, Gross Domestic Product, Human Welfare, Macroeconomics, Gini Coefficient

Australian Academy of Accounting and Finance Review, vol 4, issue 1, January 2018, pp 11-14