برنامه های وام های صندوق بین المللی پول و مرگ و میر انتحاری IMF-lending programs and suicide mortality

1. Introduction Over the years, IMF-lending programs have been heavily criticized both for failing to resolve participating countries’ economic problems and for generating adverse social consequences. Recently, there has been renewed attention to the social consequences of Fund programs as a result of the financial crisis of 2007e2009 and the European debt crisis thereafter, which led to recessions and forced several countries to resort to the IMF for funding. Prompted by this situation, a number of papers have stressed aspects of the negative side-effects of austerity programs, like those of the IMF, including greater inequality, increased impoverishment and decreased provision of health services (Stuckler et al., 2008, 2010; Stuckler and Basu, 2009; Barr et al., 2012; Chang et al., 2013; Karanikolos et al., 2013). In this paper we focus on an aspect of the social consequences of IMF programs that has not yet been examined systematically in a cross-country context, their effect on suicides. With respect to suicides, a bold case in recent years is Greece, which was the first Eurozone member-state to turn to the IMF for financial assistance, making from 2010 front-page news across the globe. The Greek program was designed in an environment of low growth, significant market rigidities and a serious gap in competitiveness. Economic activity dropped further thereafter, as austerity measures and extensive structural reforms were implemented, leading to a severe economic depression that lasted six years, wiping out more than twenty-five percent of GDP and raising the official unemployment rate to over 27%. As Antonakakis and Collins (2014), Economou et al. (2011) and Kentikelenis et al. (2011) point out, even more important was the shock that hit people in Greece. In a country with one of the lowest rates of suicide mortality worldwide, the number of people resorting to suicide increased dramatically in the aftermath of the 2009e2011 crisis, leading to a rise in total suicides by almost 40%. Another bold case was observed during the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s, when Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand, faced with a loss of market confidence and pressures on their currencies, resorted to the IMF for funding. These countries experienced a substantial rise in suicides (Chang et al., 2009; Kim et al., 2010).