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295Theoretical Framework From economics viewpoint the relationship between economic factors and suicide rates began with Hamermesh and Soss article in 1974 According to the theory income and age of an individual determine the probability of the suicide Utility Maximization Model is adopted and detailed as follows An Economic theory of suicide of Hamermesh and Soss 1974 is developed further by Crouch 1979 He suggested that a person commits suicide when the combination between enjoyment of life and distaste for suicide is larger or equivalent to zero E D where D is distaste for suicide E is enjoyment from life which is determined by their family income and cost of living of their family In conclusion the theory delivered five assumptions as follows Lester and Yang 1997 The more the income the less the probability of the suicide The more the expenditure or cost of living the more the probability of suicide As one is getting older one tends to have more expenditure Thus the probability of suicide is expected to magnify for elderly Divorce lead to the reduction of household income Therefore an individual who experiences such a circumstance is more likely to commit suicide Regarding income variables since a majority of Thais works in agricultural which is different from those in industrialized countries it is necessary to incorporate factors presenting agrarian employment in model
The models can be presented as follows Model 1 SUICIDE β _0 β _1 EXPENDITURE β _2 INCOME β _3 DEBT β _4 U β _5 FEMH β _6 AGE60 β _7 POPD β _8 DIV β _9 NAGRI β _10 ALR20 ε Model 2 SUICIDE β _0 β _1 EXPENDITURE β _2 INCOME β _3 DEBT β _4 U β _5 FEMH β _6 AGE60 β _7 POPD β _8 DIV β _9 NAGRI β _10 ALR15 ε The dependent variable is suicide rates SUICIDE INCOME is average household income EXPENDITURE and DEBT are average household expenditure and debt respectively U is unemployment rate FEMH is the percentage of woman that are counted as the head of the family AGE60 is the percentage of individual above 60 POPD is the population density NAGRI is the percentage of the type of employment in corporate firms and government related sectors DIV is divorce rates ALR20 is the prevalence of alcohol consumption for adult over the age of 20 This is the percentage of adult consuming alcohol within one year ALR15 is the percentage of youth age 15 19 consuming alcohol within one year Note that this is prohibited by Thai law