ALCOHOL, CRIME AND SUICIDE: EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE FROM OECD COUNTRIES

Alcohol, a legal psychoactive substance in many countries, is associated with both physical and mental wellbeing. Besides diseases, such as liver cirrhosis, cardiovascular diseases, digestive system cancers, alcohol has been shown to be associated with a number of social problems, involving crime and suicide. This study aimed to investigate the long-run and causal linkages between suicide, alcohol and crime for 15 OECD countries. Panel co-integration, FMOLS, DOLS, and the Panel Granger causality tests were implemented. The empirical findings revealed that (i) there is a positive linkage between alcohol consumption and crime rate and between crime rate and suicide rate in the long run ;(ii) there is also feedback causality between alcohol consumption and crime rate and between crime rate and suicide rate