Mental health and macroeconomics: economic and social determinants that explain suicide in Ecuador

Background: Suicidal ideation and its most extreme outcome are important issues that should be studied from different theoretical approaches. Traditionally, it has been approached from the perspective of psychology; however, this study proposes an approach from the perspective of economics. The main objective of this study is to explain the effect and causality of economic and social determinants of suicide in Ecuador. Methods: The data for this study were collected from national and international sources and integrated to build a solid database that allows for this and other time series studies. Owing to the characteristics of the data, descriptive analysis and an econometric Vector Autoregressive (VAR) model were used. Stability tests were performed, and the Granger causality test was used to identify the causal directions of the variables. Results: The main results obtained using the model show that economic growth and underemployment significantly explain suicides. Conclusion: The study's findings highlight the importance of developing mental health protection policies that consider social aspects and job security.