Former New York Lieutenant Governor Betsy McCaughey published a brief item today about the cost, in human life, of this indiscriminate shutdown of the American economy. A key excerpt:
Job losses cause extreme suffering. Every 1% hike in the unemployment rate will likely produce a 3.3% increase in drug overdose deaths and a 0.99% increase in suicides according to data provided by the National Bureau of Economic Research and the medical journal Lancet. These are facts based on experience, not models. If unemployment hits 32%, some 77,000 Americans are likely to die from suicide and drug overdoses as a result of layoffs. Scientists call these fatalities “deaths of despair”.
Then add the predictable deaths from alcohol abuse caused by unemployment. Health economist Michael French from the University of Miami and a co-author found a “significant association between job loss” and binge drinking and alcoholism.
The impact of layoffs goes beyond suicide, drug overdosing and drinking. Overall, the death rate for an unemployed person is 63% higher than for someone with a job, according to findings in Social Science & Medicine.
Layoff-related deaths are likely to far outnumber the 60,400 coronavirus deaths predicted through August.
Read the rest here.
4 Comments
Then the Sacklers should all be executed for providing those drugs.
If the government sounds the all-clear, do you think people will rush back to movie theaters, theme parks, concerts, etc.? It’s not that simple; customers have to believe it’s safe, or non-essential businesses stay closed.
No one is starving, getting evicted, or having their utilities shut off. It’s all loneliness and boredom. Why can’t people be like Peter in Office Space and just enjoy doing nothing?
Paul,
I see the point you’re trying to make, but the analogy is weak. This situation is a matter of government compulsion.
Dave,
People are sure to be a little gun-shy at first. Much will depend on how things go as we begin cautiously to move toward normal behavior. If things feel safe enough, I think we’ll quickly get over any excessive wariness. People really like getting together, going to bars and restaurants and movies and sporting events and churches, and so on. The reason that all of those things are popular hasn’t gone away.
Few things are easier than restarting old habits.
That said, I do expect that some culturally specific behavior, like handshaking, casual hugs and kisses, carelessness about hand-washing and hygiene generally, may change permanently. Also, the feasibility and benefits of telecommuting having been convincingly demonstrated, I’ll bet this event will turn out to have been a watershed regarding employees working from home.