A research on suicide, unemployment and income level: Turkey sample

The concept of suicide, which is expressed as taking one's own life by one's own will, has been the subject of research in many fields. Divorce, family problems, financial hardship, being trapped in dept, business failure, drug addictions are one of the main reasons in suicide cases. Among these reasons, business failure and financial hardship draw attention most. It has been understood that suicide, which was previously only in psychological and sociological fields, can also be caused by economic factors. Especially, due to increasing unemployment rates people experience business failure and financial hardship that lead them to the suicida behaviour. The phenomenon of suicide, which is accepted as a health problem all over the world, is also increasing in Turkey. Therefore, it is important to examine suicide, unemployment, and income levels to formulate policies to reduce suicide cases and unemployment rates and increase income levels in Turkey. This study aims to analyze the relationship between suicide, unemployment, and income level in Turkey for the period 1990-2019. According to the results of the ARDL bounds test approach, unemployment, and income level variables have a negative and significant effect on suicide in the long run. In the short run, the impact of income level on suicide is negative and statistically significant, while the effect of unemployment on suicide is negative and statistically insignificant. According to the Granger causality analysis conducted to understand the direction of the impact of these variables on each other, unidirectional causality has been encountered unemployment to suicide.