理由:身体上的疼痛是人类最严重的体验之一。因此，这是最重要的理解之一。目的:这篇论文报道了第一个关于身体疼痛和经济状况之间联系的跨国研究。研究的一个关键问题是失业率如何影响一个社会的痛苦水平。方法:该研究使用了来自146个国家的盖洛普横断面数据。它估计了控制个人特征的固定效应回归方程。结果:世界上超过四分之一的公民遭受着身体上的痛苦。身体上的痛苦在经济繁荣时期较低，而在经济低迷时期较重。估计的效应规模相当可观。值得注意的是，疼痛的增加几乎完全由女性承担，而且主要发生在富裕国家。 These findings have paradoxical aspects. The counter-cyclicality of physical pain is not what would be predicted by conventional economic analysis: during an expansion, people typically work harder and longer, and accidents and injuries increase. Nor are the paper's results due to unemployed citizens experiencing more pain (although they do). Instead, the study's findings are consistent with an important hypothesis proposed recently, using different kinds of evidence, by brain and behavioural-science researchers such as Katja Wiech and Irene Tracey (2009) and Eileen Chou and colleagues (2016). The hypothesis is that economic worry can create physical pain. Conclusions: This study provides the first cross-country evidence that the level of physical pain in a nation depends on the state of the economy. Pain is high when the unemployment rate is high. That is not because of greater pain among people who lose their jobs -- it extends far beyond that into wider society. The increase in physical pain in a downturn is experienced disproportionately by women.