title: Exploring the relationship between macroeconomic conditions and problem drinking as captured by Google searches in the U.S.
abstract: There is considerable policy interest in the impact of macroeconomic conditions on health-related behaviours and outcomes. This paper sheds new light on this issue by exploring the relationship between macroeconomic conditions and an indicator of problem drinking derived from state-level data on alcoholism-related Google searches conducted in the US over the period 2004-2011. We find the current recessionary period coincided with an almost 20% increase in alcoholism-related searches. Controlling for state and time-effects, a 5% rise in unemployment is followed in the next 12 months by an approximate 15% increase in searches. The use of Internet searches to inform on health-related behaviours and outcomes is in its infancy; but we suggest that the data provides important real-time information for policy-makers and can help to overcome the under-reporting in surveys of sensitive information.
authors.affiliation: Department of Economics, University of Queensland, Australia.
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Frijters
authors.forename: David W
authors.initials: DW
authors.lastname: Johnston
authors.forename: Grace
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Lordan
authors.forename: Michael A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Shields
mesh_terms: D000437:Alcoholism / Q000191:economics* / Q000453:epidemiology; D057172:Economic Recession; D006801:Humans; D020407:Internet / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D013997:Time Factors; D014478:Unemployment / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D014481:United States / Q000453:epidemiology