“…To measure the severity of the Great Recession, we focus on changes in unemployment. This is in line with the large literature measuring the relationship between macroeconomic fluctuations and health inputs and outcomes (Ruhm, 2000(Ruhm, , 2003(Ruhm, , 2004Cawley et al, 2015;Cawley and Simon, 2005), and besides, the previous literature suggests that unemployment is a better predictor of health outcomes and inputs than other measures of macroeconomic fluctuations (Cawley et al, 2015;Stuckler et al, 2009). To measure fluctuations in unemployment directly associated with the Great Recession, we follow Keegan et al (2013) and quantify the unemployment change in the recessionary period, 2007-2009.…”