Hungry but healthy. A new study suggests that economic downturns are good for human health.
National Archives
Have you lost your job, your house and your savings. But, hey, you still have your health, right? In fact, you probably - and it may even improve. The researchers found that, historically, the Americans were healthier during the Great Depression and other economic downturns than they were during periods of prosperity. And they say the trend can still be true today.
For many, the Great Depression conjures images of wan, men of rail-thin waiting in bread lines. At its peak, in 1932, unemployment reached 22.9% and the US gross domestic product (GDP), a standard measure of economic performance, decreased by 14%. Despite these difficulties, the US average was healthy during this period than during the economic booms that preceded and followed, according to social researcher José Tapia Granados and his co-author Ana Diez Roux, both from the University of Michigan , Ann Arbor.
The pair tested levels of life expectancy and mortality data as well as GDP growth and unemployment history. They focused on 1920 through 1940, a period that included the Great Depression (1930-1933), a couple of less severe recessions, and several years of strong economic growth. The top six causes of death at that time were the cardiovascular and renal disease, influenza and pneumonia, cancer, tuberculosis, motor vehicle accidents, and suicide.
team Tapia Granados found an inverse association between economic health and the health of the population: Life expectancy fell during economic recovery and increased during recessions. Mortality, meanwhile, tended to increase during economic recovery and fall during recessions. Deaths related to influenza and pneumonia, for example, fell by about 150 per 100 000 in 1929 to 100 per 100,000 people in 1930, the researchers report online today in the Proceedings of the national Academy of sciences . Suicide was the only cause of death that increased during periods of economic crisis. For life expectancy, the models were particularly evident among nonwhites: Between 1921 and 1926, a period of economic growth, life expectancy declined by 8.1 years among non-white men and 7.4 years among non-white women. During the Great Depression, on the other hand, life expectancy among nonwhites increased by 8 years.
But why? Researchers are not yet enough data to say. Previous studies have suggested plausible mechanisms. Economic booms are associated with more smoking and drinking, less sleep and more work-related stress - all factors that can affect health. In addition, deaths related to traffic and work accidents tend to increase during periods of economic growth. Another factor, Tapia Granados says, may involve social support. Recessions tend to bring people together, and people with stronger social support networks tend to be healthier.
One of the reasons why the results can seem so counterintuitive, says Christopher Ruhm, a health economist at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro, is that it is easy to find examples of people who got sicker during recessions. "Someone loses their job, they take to the bottle, their health suffers," he said. But these dramatic stories say nothing about the overall effect of recessions on the entire population.
other studies have also suggested that health improves during economic downturn, said Stephen Bezruchka, a physician and public health expert at the University of Washington, Seattle, but this is by far the most encompassing study look at the Great depression. together, he said, all studies suggest that GDP is an erroneous measurement of well-being of society.
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