Why Remembering You're Going to Die Is the Best Motivator

a post by Tommy Baker for the Tiny Buddha blog

“Don’t be afraid of death; be afraid of an unlived life. You don’t have to live forever; you just have to live.” ~Natalie Babitt

Once a month, I visit the local cemetery and walk around. I’m not there to visit anyone in particular. I’m there to remind myself of my own mortality.

And it always wakes me up.

I soak in the energy: I read the simple legacies on the tombstones, from young children to those who made it to 100 years old. I’m not morose. I’m not negative. I’ve simply found the greatest motivational tool in the world, and I assure you it’s not quotes on Instagram or Pinterest. It’s not the latest YouTube clip.

It’s one thing and one thing only: remembering we are all going to die soon.

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The impact of waiting time targets in emergency departments

a column by Jonathan Gruber, Thomas Hoe and George Stoye for VIX: CEPR’s Policy Portal

Emergency departments in hospitals around the world are under pressure to reduce waiting times.

This column analyses the effect of a government target for hospitals in England which mandates a maximum waiting time of four hours. The target successfully reduced waiting times and mortality, but increased costs per patient.

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The temporary and permanent effects of unemployment on mortality in Europe

an article by Keith A. Bender and Ioannis Theodossiou (University of Aberdeen, UK) and Athina Economou (University of Thessaly, Volos, Greece) published in International Labour Review Volume 152 Issue 2 (June 2013)

Abstract

Recent research on the relationship between unemployment and mortality is inconsistent.

The statistical methodology used in this study decomposes the effect of unemployment on mortality into temporary and permanent effects and estimates the unemployment-mortality relationship, using aggregate data from 11 European countries for the period 1971–2001.

Decomposing the effect of unemployment in this way shows that while the temporary effect of an increase in unemployment is to lower mortality, the permanent effect is to increase it. Importantly, the permanent effect is generally much stronger than the temporary effect.

These results hold true for nearly all mortality indicators studied.

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