Economic crisis and stillbirth ratios: evidence from Southern Europe

Tsimbos, Cleon, Verropoulou, Georgia and Petropoulou, Dimitra ORCID: 0000-0003-4570-3570 (2021) Economic crisis and stillbirth ratios: evidence from Southern Europe. PLOS ONE, 16 (11). ISSN 1932-6203

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Abstract

In this paper we assess the impact of the recent European recession on stillbirth indices over the course of the 2000s and 2010s; the analysis focuses on four Southern European countries (Greece, Italy, Spain, Portugal), which were seriously affected by the sovereign debt crisis from around 2008 to 2017. We use national vital statistics and established economic indicators for the period 2000-2017; stillbirth ratios (stillbirths per 1000 livebirths) are the chosen response variable. For the purpose of the study, we employ correlation analysis and fit regression models. The overall impact of economic indicators on the stillbirth indices is sizeable and statistically robust. We find that a healthy economy is associated with low and declining levels of stillbirth measures. In contrast, economic recession appears to have an adverse effect (Greece, Italy and Spain), or an unclear impact (Portugal), on the stillbirth outcome. This study provides evidence of the adverse effect of the European sovereign debt crisis and ensuing period of austerity on a scarcely explored aspect of health.

Item Type:	Article
Official URL:	https://journals.plos.org/plosone/
Additional Information:	© 2021 The Authors
Divisions:	Economics
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions
Date Deposited:	19 Nov 2021 09:57
Last Modified:	18 Mar 2024 23:45
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/112692

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