Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/312019 
Year of Publication: 
2024
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 17580
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide and a critical public health concern. We examine the hypothesis of suicide contagion within in the workplace, investigating whether exposure to a coworker's suicide increases an individual's suicide risk. Using high-quality administrative data from Austria and an event study approach, we compare approximately 150,000 workers exposed to a coworker's suicide with a matched group exposed to a "placebo suicide". We find a significant increase in suicide risk for exposed individuals, with a cumulative treatment effect of 0.04 percentage points (33.3 percent) over a 20-year post-event period. Exposed individuals who also die by suicide are more likely to use the same method as their deceased coworker, strongly suggesting a causal link. Two placebo tests bolster this interpretation: workers who left the firm before the suicide and those exposed to a coworker's fatal car accident do not show an elevated suicide risk.
Subjects: 
suicide
workplace
contagion hypothesis
Werther-effect
mental health
JEL: 
I10
I12
I18
D81
J10
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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