Business cycles and mortality in Italy

Abstract Our study examines the relationship between business cycles and mortality rates in Italy over the period 2004–2019. Using the unemployment rate as a proxy for macroeconomic conditions, we investigate how economic fluctuations affect mortality rates across causes of death, age groups, genders, and educational levels. The analysis relies on data from the National Institute of Statistics (ISTAT) and applies panel data methods to control for province-specific heterogeneity and time effects.