ABSTRACT
This book is about the social costs of macro-economic fluctuations. It considers
the effects of the 1980/1982 economic recession on individual well-being in the OECD
countries. Timeseries data are presented on income evaluation, life-satisfaction, health
complaints, psychosomatic symptoms, sales of psychotropic drugs, suicide and mortality.
It appears that the average citizen was hardly hurt by the recession. Though anxieties
about matters of money rose temporarily, there was no general dip in satisfaction or
mental health. Yet suicide rates rose somewhat. In some segments of the population
satisfaction declined considerably and did not recover completely. These categories will
possibly suffer some deterioration of mental and physical health on the longer term.