Does Food Inflation Cause Suicide in Turkey?

This study focuses on the relationship between the suicide rate and food inflation using a panel dataset in 26 NUTS-2 regions in Turkey during 2008-2019. We also analyse the effects of several socioeconomic factors, including the unemployment rate, real GDP per capita, the divorce rate, the proportion of low-educated individuals, and the number of physicians. Our estimated results show that food inflation affects the suicide rate of males and females differently. An increase in food inflation decreases the female suicide rate while it leads to a rise in the male suicide rate. A possible explanation for this finding may be that Turkish society\`s social roles attributed to females and males are entirely different. While an increased divorce rate hurts the male suicide rate, a rise in real GDP per capita decreases the female suicide rate. These findings are consistent with Durkheim\`s theory of suicide and are thought to guide future economic and social policies..