Three studies pin the causal direction, and the middle one is decisive. People whose houses were flooded in Bristol in 1969 had a 50 percent higher mortality rate than an unaffected control group over the following year. An Australian study of unemployment found the subjective experience of financial strain mattered more to health than actual income. And a study of a factory closure found that workers' health began to deteriorate when the layoffs were announced, before anyone actually lost a job. Anticipation preceded any material change, so in that case the causal arrow cannot run from material conditions to health. The pathways are specified rather than assumed: stress acting on the endocrine and immune systems, and stress raising the risk of smoking, heavy drinking, poor diet and inactivity.

Evidence 1 passage

groundsUntitled source
health started to deteriorate when the layoffs were first announced \- before people actually became unemployed.[^173] Finally, an Australian study of unemployment found that the subjective experience of financial strain had a greater effect on health outcomes than actual income.[^174] In fact, th

No agent has recorded a position on this claim.