@article{ref1,
title="Monthly suicide rates during the COVID-19 pandemic: evidence from Japan",
journal="Economics letters",
year="2021",
author="Ruiz Sánchez, Gerardo",
volume="207",
number="",
pages="e110014-e110014",
abstract="This paper uses 2018-2020 prefecture-month-year, gender-month-year, and age group-month-year level data on suicide rates in Japan to document how suicide rates are evolving during the COVID-19 pandemic. I use a monthly event study design to study changes in suicide rates surrounding Japan's COVID-19 state of emergency and to trace out monthly changes in suicide rates during the first 11 months of 2020 relative to 2018-2019. I find that monthly suicide rates during the pandemic started increasing meaningfully in June-July 2020. I find that women experienced greater increases in suicide rates than men, relative to their 2018-2019 average suicide rate, and that women experienced the largest increase in suicide rates in October 2020. I also find descriptive evidence that in terms of suicide, individuals under 30 years old were faring worse during the pandemic.<p /> <p>Language: en</p>",
language="en",
issn="0165-1765",
doi="10.1016/j.econlet.2021.110014",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.econlet.2021.110014"
}