RT: Spending cuts in Greece have caused some 500 male suicides since their implementation, according to a new study. The research found a positive correlation between austerity and suicide rates after other possible links proved to be unrelated.
The 30-page study, titled 'The Impact of Fiscal Austerity on Suicide: On the Empirics of a Modern Greek Tragedy' and published in the Social Science and Medicine journal was authored by Nikolaos Antonakakis and Alan Collins from Portsmouth University.
“Suicide rates in Greece (and other European countries) have been on a remarkable upward trend following the global recession of 2008 and the European sovereign debt crisis of 2009,” states the study’s abstract.
Each 1 percent decrease in government spending resulted in a 0.43 percent rise in suicides among men, according to the study. Between 2009 and 2010, there were 551 deaths which occurred “solely because of fiscal austerity,” it stated.
“That is almost one person per day. Given that in 2010 there were around two suicides in Greece per day, it appears 50 percent were due to austerity,” one of the paper’s co-authors, Nikolaos Antonakakis, told the Guardian.
Antonakakis, a Greek national, said that he had been motivated to examine the link between austerity and suicide rates after watching media reports and hearing stories about friends of friends killing themselves.
While there had already been research into the impact of negative economic growth on health, there had previously been no studies linking austerity cuts with poor health and suicide.
“Our empirical findings suggest that fiscal austerity, higher unemployment rates, negative economic growth and reduced fertility rates lead to significant increases on overall suicide rates in Greece, while increased alcohol consumption and divorce rates do no exert any significant influence on overall suicide rates,” the study notes.
Antonakakis and Collins are both contemplating expanding their work by examining the link between economic austerity in other eurozone countries most affected by the crisis. This work could encompass Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Ireland.
“These findings have strong implications for policymakers and for health agencies,” said Antonakakis. “We often talk about the fiscal multiplier effect of austerity, such as what it does to GDP. But what is the health multiplier?” he questioned.
The study identified some gender and age trends, finding that men in the 45-89 age bracket suffer the largest risk because of salary and pension cuts. There was no obvious rise in suicide rates among females.
“The fact we find gender specificity and age specificity can help health agencies target their help,” said Antonakakis.
Source
Shock new evidence that a breakdown in bra supplies sparked the Bastille event
By John Ward: I’m obliged to Irish Slogger Christo for sending me a fascinating graph of the rise, decline, death and then resurrection of Russian oligarchs since 1860. Some the the data on it are mind-boggling. For example, in 1861 Tsar Alexander II emancipated the serfs, and the following year the number of oligarchs doubled. I’d imagine both neolibs and Occupy would have a field day with that one.
Equally intriguing is the fact that rich oligarchs steadily declined until, at the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, they were at just 25% of the 1862 figure. So it clearly wasn’t lots of rich berks swanning about that caused the collapse of Tsarism. And this is of course correct: the Russian system collapsed because they were losing the war, the peasants got fed up of being armed with sticks and came home, and the German High Command put Lenin on a sealed train to Moscow. You will read tons of Marxist dialectic guff about the ‘inevitable synthesis’ that was socialism, but it is total bollocks.
In short, the People were fed up with their lot, not envious of the other lot…..if you see what I mean.
The same was true around 1989-90 when the USSR collapsed: the inefficient and corrupt soviet system was failing East European nations fed up of 50 years of queues and privation. There was no sudden massacre of those driving in the Zil lanes. During the 1980s (as in the years following 1860) the number of oligarchs once more declined under a more hardline, strict Politburo: but the war in Afghanistan dragged on, and the loss of it plus the cost of nuclear defence eventually helped, along with discontent, to collapse the Soviet Union under its own weight.
Reading that last paragraph, the Pompadours in Brussels-am-Berlin would do well to think again about ClubMed austerity…especially in relation to Greece. It seems to me that all the conditions necessary for revolutionary civil war are present: and there are any number of potential sparks coming along in 2014.
Source
The 30-page study, titled 'The Impact of Fiscal Austerity on Suicide: On the Empirics of a Modern Greek Tragedy' and published in the Social Science and Medicine journal was authored by Nikolaos Antonakakis and Alan Collins from Portsmouth University. “Suicide rates in Greece (and other European countries) have been on a remarkable upward trend following the global recession of 2008 and the European sovereign debt crisis of 2009,” states the study’s abstract.
Each 1 percent decrease in government spending resulted in a 0.43 percent rise in suicides among men, according to the study. Between 2009 and 2010, there were 551 deaths which occurred “solely because of fiscal austerity,” it stated.
Antonakakis, a Greek national, said that he had been motivated to examine the link between austerity and suicide rates after watching media reports and hearing stories about friends of friends killing themselves.
While there had already been research into the impact of negative economic growth on health, there had previously been no studies linking austerity cuts with poor health and suicide.
“Our empirical findings suggest that fiscal austerity, higher unemployment rates, negative economic growth and reduced fertility rates lead to significant increases on overall suicide rates in Greece, while increased alcohol consumption and divorce rates do no exert any significant influence on overall suicide rates,” the study notes.
Antonakakis and Collins are both contemplating expanding their work by examining the link between economic austerity in other eurozone countries most affected by the crisis. This work could encompass Spain, Portugal, Italy, and Ireland.
“These findings have strong implications for policymakers and for health agencies,” said Antonakakis. “We often talk about the fiscal multiplier effect of austerity, such as what it does to GDP. But what is the health multiplier?” he questioned.
The study identified some gender and age trends, finding that men in the 45-89 age bracket suffer the largest risk because of salary and pension cuts. There was no obvious rise in suicide rates among females.
“The fact we find gender specificity and age specificity can help health agencies target their help,” said Antonakakis.
Source
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CLUBMED & WESTERN NEOLIBERALISM: Why Revolutions Are Caused By Failure, Not Envy
Shock new evidence that a breakdown in bra supplies sparked the Bastille event
By John Ward: I’m obliged to Irish Slogger Christo for sending me a fascinating graph of the rise, decline, death and then resurrection of Russian oligarchs since 1860. Some the the data on it are mind-boggling. For example, in 1861 Tsar Alexander II emancipated the serfs, and the following year the number of oligarchs doubled. I’d imagine both neolibs and Occupy would have a field day with that one.
Equally intriguing is the fact that rich oligarchs steadily declined until, at the 1917 Bolshevik revolution, they were at just 25% of the 1862 figure. So it clearly wasn’t lots of rich berks swanning about that caused the collapse of Tsarism. And this is of course correct: the Russian system collapsed because they were losing the war, the peasants got fed up of being armed with sticks and came home, and the German High Command put Lenin on a sealed train to Moscow. You will read tons of Marxist dialectic guff about the ‘inevitable synthesis’ that was socialism, but it is total bollocks.
In short, the People were fed up with their lot, not envious of the other lot…..if you see what I mean.
The same was true around 1989-90 when the USSR collapsed: the inefficient and corrupt soviet system was failing East European nations fed up of 50 years of queues and privation. There was no sudden massacre of those driving in the Zil lanes. During the 1980s (as in the years following 1860) the number of oligarchs once more declined under a more hardline, strict Politburo: but the war in Afghanistan dragged on, and the loss of it plus the cost of nuclear defence eventually helped, along with discontent, to collapse the Soviet Union under its own weight.
There are some genuinely interesting lessons
here for those who are serious about a radical solution to the West’s
failures in relation to its citizens today. That is, the loss of
normality and breakdown of supply caused by flawed economic systems,
expensive wars and adventurist foreign policies are far more likely to
ignite revolution than envy of what others have or dislike of illiberal
politics. The storming of the Bastille, for example, took place when
only seven lettres de cachet victims were in there: a more
immediate reason was a major economic crisis, partially initiated by the
cost of intervening in the American Revolution.
As long as the system delivers materially, revolution is unlikely:
envy and anger at injustice will be felt, but not acted upon.
Revolutions tend to need a spark in the way of food supply breakdown
and/or serious privation among the citizens, and are usually exacerbated
by the cost of imperial administration getting out of control. Not for
nothing was the Bolshevik Russian newspaper called Iskra – The Spark.
But crucially important is that arrogant élite government is by
definition out of touch with the sans culottes…and this is why the spark
takes them by surprise. (Read, mark and inwardly digest, David
Cameron).Reading that last paragraph, the Pompadours in Brussels-am-Berlin would do well to think again about ClubMed austerity…especially in relation to Greece. It seems to me that all the conditions necessary for revolutionary civil war are present: and there are any number of potential sparks coming along in 2014.
Source
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