Recessions are painful for a variety of reasons. It did pave the way for the labor movement, and it did establish a number of social safety nets including the American Social Security system. Deborah Carr is in the sociology department and the Institute for Health, Health Care Policy, and Aging Research at Rutgers University. Unemployment spiked in the 1970s—a period marked by an oil crisis and stagflation—and again in the “double dip” recession years of the early ‘80s. ERIN STRUMPF: We find that in areas where the unemployment rate is growing faster, mortality rates decline faster. The Great Depression had a silver lining: During that hard time, U.S. life expectancy actually increased by 6.2 years, according to a University of … During the heyday of the New Deal, unemployment remained high — around 18 percent — and the average American's income continued to decline. Two causes of death did correlate with the pattern of bank suspensions: suicide rates rose but motor vehicle accidents declined, so much so that they outweighed the increase in suicides. But the era was also marked by economic growth, manufacturing, and slow inflation, so it's not really likely that all that activity was having a lot of negative impact on the economy. Along with Thomas Charters, Sam Harper and Ari Nandi, she studied the effect of the Great Recession a decade ago by looking at 366 metropolitan areas in the United States, which cover about 80 percent of the U.S. population. The problem was exacerbated by the fact that the land had been overfarmed and overgrazed for decades, leaving it eroded and barren. "Whether health improves or worsens during hard times depends mainly on how governments choose to respond.". I think it's fair to say, David, that this is a provocative finding that's still in need of a good explanation. Overall, the impact of the Great Depression largely depended on luck, how you were doing before the slide, and how resilient you were in the face of unprecedented financial challenges. Others will say it worked quite well. Thanks so much, as always. The declines are in areas that experience higher levels of unemployment. Some men left their families because they couldn't handle the shame of unemployment. At a population level, however, aggregate level suicide patterns mirror macroeconomic trends, including unemployment rates and business cycles. Families found new ways to get and conserve food. But there was more going on in the 1930s than just and economic downturn. City gardens were established to help feed the hungry, and restaurants reinvented themselves to feed people humble fare at low prices. A previous headline incorrectly said that the Great Recession led to fewer deaths among the unemployed. But did that lead to the Great Depression? He is NPR's social science correspondent, and he also hosts a podcast and radio show that explores the unseen patterns in human behavior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ut if you see something that doesn't look right, click here to contact us! They found declines in deaths due to pneumonia, flu and tuberculosis and increases in deaths from heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Steinbeck's The Grapes of Wrath popularized the idea of a Depression-era mass exodus from the Dust Bowl, but it didn't happen exactly the way it was memorialized in that classic piece of fiction. GREENE: That is NPR's Shankar Vedantam. Other scapegoats are kind of just conveniently in the right place to be scapegoated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n fact, Tapia notes that cigarette sales have historically risen when the economy is doing well and declined when it is not. The horrible specter of poverty impacted the country in a lot of ways. Racism played a role, too. In 2018, Tapia co-authored another paper in the American Journal of Epidemiology that looked at data from 1985 to 2011, a period that covered three recessions. Of six causes of death that compose about two-thirds of total mortality in the 1930s (Fig. Yet when the depression hit, the average life expectancy for people of color rose more quickly than that of whites, increasing by about eight years from 1929 to 1933. Strumpf thinks the decline in heart attacks might have something to do with the stresses people experience at work or other lifestyle changes. Smithsonian Institution. That was just starvation in New York City. So poverty wasn't the only awful thing that was born out of those awful times. The industrial cartels had the power to do things like restrict output and raise wages and prices above where they would have been naturally. According to the American Institute of Economic Research, Hoover did support free markets, but he was also smart enough to understand that something as major as the economic slide of the early 1930s required some sort of government intervention. “What we found in this paper is that a number of things that are usually thought about unemployed people—well, apparently they are not true,” he says. Women’s overall suicide rates are consistently lower than men’s, averaging close to 5 per 100,000 (versus roughly 18 per 100,000 among men). Increased economic productivity often creates more pollution, which harms those who have the least access to health services and safe housing.