by Bijou Yang and David Lester

About the authors: Bijou Yang is a professor of economics at Drexel University, Philadelphia; David Lester is a professor of psychology at the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. Lester has written over fifty books and over one thousand articles on suicide and murder.

The present viewpoint reviews several recent analyses of suicidal behaviour which continue the growing tradition of applying economic models to non-economic behaviour. [It] describes a cost-benefit analysis and a demand-supply analysis of suicidal behaviour, with implications for preventing suicide. . . .

An Economic Model for Suicide

In most economic models for suicide, committing suicide is considered to be a rational act. An individual is acting 'rationally' if, given a choice between various alternatives, he or she selects what seems to be the most desirable or least undesirable alternative. Thus, from...