Getting Paid Might Kill You?

from the studies-for-the-fun-of-it dept

Okay, I don't have much of a comment on this one either way, other than that I found it to be quite an amusing topic for study, and thought some of you might appreciate it as well -- for the humor factor. Via Paul Kedrosky comes the news of an NBER research paper that found that people tend to die right after getting paid. Well, sorta:

Many studies find that households increase their consumption after the receipt of expected income payments, a result inconsistent with the life-cycle/permanent income hypothesis. Consumption can increase adverse health events, such as traffic accidents, heart attacks and strokes. In this paper, we examine the short-term mortality consequences of income receipt. We find that mortality increases following the arrival of monthly Social Security payments, regular wage payments for military personnel, the 2001 tax rebates, and Alaska Permanent Fund dividend payments. The increase in short-run mortality is large, potentially eliminating some of the protective benefits of additional income.

Filed Under: mortality