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Greek Austerity Has Caused More Than 500 Male Suicides - Academic Study


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HOLA441

Spending cuts in Greece have caused some 500 male suicides since their implementation, according to a new study. The research found a positive correlation between austerity and suicide rates after other possible links proved to be unrelated.

The 30-page study, titled 'The Impact of Fiscal Austerity on Suicide: On the Empirics of a Modern Greek Tragedy' and published in the Social Science and Medicine journal was authored by Nikolaos Antonakakis and Alan Collins from Portsmouth University.

“Suicide rates in Greece (and other European countries) have been on a remarkable upward trend following the global recession of 2008 and the European sovereign debt crisis of 2009,” states the study’s abstract.

Each 1 percent decrease in government spending resulted in a 0.43 percent rise in suicides among men, according to the study. Between 2009 and 2010, there were 551 deaths which occurred “solely because of fiscal austerity,” it stated.

gs-1.jpg

Suicide rates by age group and gender in Greece, 1968-2009 (Source: WHO 2012)

“That is almost one person per day. Given that in 2010 there were around two suicides in Greece per day, it appears 50 percent were due to austerity,” one of the paper’s co-authors, Nikolaos Antonakakis, told the Guardian.

Antonakakis, a Greek national, said that he had been motivated to examine the link between austerity and suicide rates after watching media reports and hearing stories about friends of friends killing themselves.

Full story at http://rt.com/news/greece-austerity-male-suicides-868/

I suppose some will say - 'Only 500? That's a bargain.'

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HOLA442
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HOLA444

Full story at http://rt.com/news/greece-austerity-male-suicides-868/

I suppose some will say - 'Only 500? That's a bargain.'

Are you trying to say that running unsustainable deficits is a way to prosperity and happiness???

If it is the case then Spaniards must be idiots:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanced_budget_amendment#Spain

In 2011 the Spanish Parliament proposed a law amending the Spanish Constitution to require a balanced budget at both the national and regional level by 2020. The law states that public debt can not exceed 60% of GDP, though exceptions would be made in case of a natural catastrophe, economic recession or other emergencies. The changes will also require the government to stick to EU annual deficit limits of 3% of GDP.[8]

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HOLA445

If the troika - the ECB, the EU and IMF - had not insisted on protecting bank bondholders then austerity would not have been necessary.

Also, if Greece could have freed itself of the shackles of the Euro, it could have devalued and sold more goods and services abroad.

Spending money on health, jobs and welfare is a bigger priority than subsidising already-rich too-big-to-fail banksters.

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HOLA446

Not exactly the most convincing charts, are they :lol:

All I see is a bunch of lines, trending slightly down, ebbing and flowing up and down by a similar amount over each 5 year or so period. Oh well, at least the authors probably werent included in austerity to get a nice big fat cheque from the taxpayer to produce this bile.

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HOLA447

Sensitive subject so I'll keep my comments guarded. From the article:

The study identified some gender and age trends, finding that men in the 45-89 age bracket suffer the largest risk because of salary and pension cuts.

So less risk for younger people, more of who may now have more of an opening to get a share of things in the austerity rebalancing of a boom which saw too much generosity go to older people/over-extended debtors and spenders?

I can admit to such depression or dark moments myself, feeling lost (not particularly for myself) trying to plot out a future for younger relatives, who have worked themselves into good careers, but see little for it, against house prices.

HPI 'winners', final-salary pensions, over-paid during booms, and non-savers/debt-heads spending big, outbidding for more property / reinvesting on the margin, more second homes and property for rental... to shakedown younger people, and spending like gods. Spending is needed, but some opportunity for younger people to get ahead is required too. Including lower house prices. Perhaps it's fairer to some those nearing they kept the generous pensions which they kept voting to get ever more super in the boom, or awarding older people ever bigger salaries the economy couldn't support, and all the other bubble perks.

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HOLA448

I didn't look into the reliability of the study reading just what has been written here so I won't comment on the figures or quality of the research. It struck me though that the gender differences fit very well with my own experience. Several (most) friends in property, development, building and letting. When the NI bubble burst the difference between how the new found reality of skintness was handled by men and women was extreme. This being a prodominately male site, I will likely get shot down in flames for saying this but the women were and still are in many cases more adept at cutting the cloth to fit than the men were/are. Maybe that says more about the type of men who go into those professions, I don't know. The females seemed to be more able to admit the loss, share the pain and recognise reality where the men (in general, not all) insisted that it was all a blip. Believing that things would return to normal soon the spending & pretence continued. Several marriages broke up and there was one suicide - a husband, father of 3 hung himself over mortgage debt. Heady times followed by so much pain.

As Venger says this is a sensitive subject, but one I would like to see more research on.

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As Venger says this is a sensitive subject, but one I would like to see more research on.

Having just taken a look at a few statistics, oddly, more women than men are likely to be treated for depression, but men are far more likely to commit suicide.

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HOLA4411

Apologies for the Daily Mail click bait, but it illustrates my point.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2085163/Children-dumped-streets-Greek-parents-afford-them.html

Austerity is clearly causing hardship in Greece to prompt people to abandon their children. Is the purpose of the suicide study to demonstrate Greek hardship in the face of austerity? Or is it to show how the genders react differently to adversity? It's well documented how men's self image is tied up in their professional success and their ability to 'provide'.

Austerity hurts, but is the way we 'condition' young men the greater 'evil'?

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