Unfortunately Guyana has the dubious distinction of having the highest rate of suicide in the world. A recent spike in these grim incidences required President Granger to convene an emergency meeting. A few studies exist on the suicide problem in Guyana. The general profile discovered so far suggests the victims are mainly rural and East Indian. The previous studies have also done a good job providing the age and gender profile of the victims. They have also outlined good policies that may help in easing the pain.
These are, of course, descriptions of a pattern that needs deeper probing to uncover causality. As an aside, we should acknowledge that the Social Sciences are essential for helping the society to obtain greater insights into this crisis. This is very important as educators consider implementing the latest perspective on ‘education’ coming from American conservative TV: that pure STEM and job training make a great education system.
I have started doing some reading on the economics of suicide. The economics literature has much to say about suicide and its underlying causes. Economists have noted that suicide does not only involve social isolation and mental illness. There are many other dimensions for which we need data to measure causality, so that
