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We use administrative records on the universe of Danish households to characterize survivors’
mental health following their spouse’s death. We provide visually clear evidence
for the immediate, large, and lingering adverse impacts and focus on studying the role
of income security in driving the immediate effects. We find that, for both males and
females, a large share of the spike in the takeup of mental health medication upon spousal
death can be explained by the income loss imposed by the shock. Our results imply that
safety-net policies can improve survivors’ mental health via the immediate liquidity they
provide.
