Invited commentary: are there unrealized benefits of unemployment insurance among the employed?

Political statements about the relationship between the economy and health intensify during economic downturns and fade in times of prosperity. Population health researchers share this cyclical interest in that the numbers of peer-reviewed publications on this topic increase during and immediately after recessions. In this issue of the Journal, Cylus et al. (Am J Epidemiol. 2014;180(1):45-52) follow in the "economy and health" research tradition and examine the relationship between US unemployment rates and suicide mortality. Their work makes a novel contribution in that they examine whether generous unemployment insurance benefits attenuate the relationship between economic downturns and suicide mortality in the United States. In this commentary, I assess the internal validity of their analysis, call into question some assumptions of their approach, and place their contribution within the context of the broader literature. I then argue that population-based and individual-based approaches in the "economy and health" field often work in concert to create knowledge and inform policy-makers.