Lifecycle Effects of a Recession on Health Behaviors: Boom, Bust, and Recovery in Iceland

Speaker: Hope Corman

Date/Time: March 6, 10 AM – 12 PM

Abstract:

This study uses individual-level longitudinal data from Iceland, a country that experienced a severe economic crisis in 2008 and substantial recovery by 2012, to investigate the extent to which the effects of a recession on health behaviors are lingering or short-lived and to explore trajectories in health behaviors from pre-crisis boom, to crisis, to recovery. Health-compromising behaviors (smoking, heavy drinking, sugared soft drinks, sweets, fast food, and tanning) declined during the crisis, and all but sweets continued to decline during the recovery. Health-promoting behaviors (consumption of fruit, fish oil, and vitamin/minerals and getting recommended sleep) followed more idiosyncratic paths. Overall, most behaviors reverted back to their pre-crisis levels or trends during the recovery, and these short-term deviations in trajectories were probably too short-lived in this recession to have major impacts on health or mortality. A notable exception is for alcohol consumption, which declined dramatically during the crisis years, continued to fall (at a slower rate) during the recovery, and did not revert back to the pre-crisis upward trend during our observation period. These lingering effects, which directionally run counter to the pre-crisis upward trend, suggest that alcohol is a potential pathway by which recessions improve health and/or reduce mortality.

Biography:

Hope Corman is Professor of Economics and Director of Health Administration at Rider University, a Research Associate in Health Economics at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a Faculty Associate of the Canadian Centre for Health Economics. Her research in health economics has focused on causes and consequences of poor child health and the effects of economic and policy factors on health behaviors.

Link to paper: Corman et al_2015