RECESSÕES ECONÔMICAS REDUZEM A TAXA DE MORTALIDADE? EVIDÊNCIAS PARA O BRASIL

The paper investigates de relationship between employment rate and mortality rate in Brazil during the period 1981-2002. It briefly reviews the literature on macroeconomic conditions and health, emphasizing the existence of two controversial hypothesis. The Ruhm's Hypothesis suggest that high unemployment rates associated with lower mortality and vice versa stands in stark contrast to Brenner's earlier work, who found the opposite effect. The paper follows the methodology put forward Ruhm (2000) to estimate the impact of employment on mortality rate. Controlling for a state-specific effects using a static and dynamic panel data model, we find evidence that total mortality rate is higher in recessions, i.e. when improved the condition macroeconomics occur a fall in mortality rate. This result suggests that we accept the Brenner's hypothesis in opposite to Ruhm's hypothesis.