Abstract
We study the relationship between macroeconomic conditions and health in the U.S. using data from the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) between 2004-2017. Unlike many existing studies that use state or county as the level of aggregation, our analysis uses a balanced sample of metropolitan and micropolitan statistical areas (MMSAs). We find consistent evidence of adverse health effects of economic downturns among minorities and less-educated individuals. Our results also suggest strong and negative associations between macroeconomic conditions and access to care and health insurance coverage. In addition, there is some suggestive evidence of counter-cyclicality for smoking among men. However, the estimates for health behavior outcomes are not robust to adjusting for multiple hypothesis testing.
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