Are Socioeconomic Factors Valid Determinants of Suicide? Controlling for National Cultures of Suicide With Fixed-Effects Estimation

This article’s analysis employs a range of economic & social explanatory variables based on economic as well as Durkheimian sociological theory in fixed-effects & random-effects estimation of age-standardized suicide rates in a large panel of up to 68 countries during the period 1980 to 1999. The results suggest that economic & social factors affect cross-country differences in suicide rates in accordance with theory. (38 refs)