Hot off the press: Hard times or good times? Inequalities in the health effects of economic change

The economic crisis of the last years, often referred to as “great recession” has raised many discussions on how it could affect our health. The World Health Organization issued a statement on the matter and experts in the field offered their views (see for example here , here and here).

The International Journal of Public Health , faithful to its interest in inequalties in health and health economics, recently published a very interesting commentary entitled: “Hard times or good times? Inequalities in the health effects of economic change” . In this commentary,  Dr.  Mylene Riva, Professor Clare Bambra , Dr. Susan Easton and Professor Sarah Curtis from the Department of Geography of Durham University argue that there is not a straightforward answer on how the economic crisis might affect health and elaborate on the complexity of the matter: individual characteristics, place of residence and measurement method might all play a role.

We welcome your opinions and personal experiences on this matter!