by Jeffrey A. Tucker
The American Institute for Economic Research
On March 28, the American Institute for Economic Research ran a terrifying article that didn’t receive the attention it deserved, even though the research behind it was impeccable and detailed. It was Drugs, Suicide, and Crime: Empirical Estimates of the Human Toll of the Shutdown. On suicide in particular, the article said the following:
Whether it is the direct unemployment effect or the potential poverty produced from the economic shutdown that leads to greater suicides, an increase from the 48,344 suicides and 1,400,000 suicide attempts in the US in 2018 should give decision-makers pause during their response to this pandemic.
That article created in me a sense of dread. The warning was issued but unheeded. And sure enough, we now read that “California doctors say they’ve seen more deaths from suicide than coronavirus since lockdowns.”