Can you associate an economic downturn with anything positive?

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   David Branaganposted 8 years ago

   Can you associate an economic downturn with anything positive?
   
   Ireland had one of the worst economic disasters in history. Major unemployment, mass emigration, home repossession. One possitive thing was that it allowed parents more time to stay at home with their family and stimulated creativity, through desperation. Can you think of anything else positive?
   
   

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   Larry Slawsonposted 8 years ago

   Well, speaking from my own experience in the United States, I have certainly had some positive experiences with the economic downturn we faced.  Not only did it teach me to be more frugal and careful with my money, but I also learned a lot of techniques for saving and spending less in order to make ends meet each month.

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      David Branaganposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      That's pretty much what it thought me as well. I became a little obsessed with finding the best food deals and cheap alternatives. Pretty much the whole country did that and the discount supermarkets boomed!

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   threekeysposted 8 years ago

   Yes, you learn to find ways to do more with less. An economic downturn forces you to "get creative" and become resourceful. You definetely change your spontnaeous nature to one of planning and delaying gratification. Special occassions become less special in terms of spending money. Yet more special through creating more thoughtfulness in the giving. Values change. You find out what really matters and is neccessary in life.

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   tamarawilhiteposted 8 years ago

   In many severe recessions, people smoke and drink less because they can't afford it as much.
   You have fewer car accidents as people drive less for pleasure and desperately try not to drive drunk because they cannot afford the tickets.
   In the US, there was about a 0.5% improvement in mortality rates for every 1% rise in unemployment for these reasons. However, deaths from suicides and drug overdoses did go up.
   And LONG term unemployment in areas has a bad effect on health, which is why life expectancy for whites with less than a college education in the US went down over the past eight years. The emotional strain of poverty, the poor diet of those on federal food subsidies (high on carbs and sugar, low on vegetables, meat), high correlation of poverty with obesity due to low exercise and bad diet, high drug use and related overdose rates ... all hurt.
   So for areas that have short term economic recessions of one to three years, you get health benefits because fewer people smoke, drink, drive.
   Areas which have suffered ten and twenty years of economic decline, like Appalachia in the US and former factory towns in the UK, you have massive negative effects on public health seen in declining life expectancy.

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      David Branaganposted 8 years agoin reply to this

      Excellent analysis!

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