Lifecycle Effects of a Recession on Health Behaviors: Boom, Bust, and Recovery in Iceland / Tinna Laufey Ásgeirsdóttir, Hope Corman, Kelly Noonan, Nancy Reichman.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Ásgeirsdóttir, Tinna Laufey.

Contributor:

National Bureau of Economic Research.

Corman, Hope.

Noonan, Kelly.

Reichman, Nancy.

Series:

Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) no. w20950.

NBER working paper series no. w20950

Language:

English

Physical Description:

1 online resource: illustrations (black and white);

Other Title:

Lifecycle Effects of a Recession on Health Behaviors

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 2015.

Summary:

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.

Notes:

Print version record

February 2015.