Influence of economic instability on health. Report on the Symposium.- 1 Recent empirical research: Aggregate-level analysis.- Mortality and economic instability: Detailed analyses for Britain.- Socio-economic change and mortality — a multivariate coherency analysis of Danish time series.- Economic instability and mortality in the Federal Republic of Germany. Problems of macroanalytical approach with special reference to migration.- An attempt to analyse some dependences between economic and health status in Poland in the years 1959–1979.- Unemployment, nutrition and infant mortality in Britain, 1920–1950.- Involuntary unemployment and health status: A regional case study utilising sociological and micro-epidemiological perspectives.- 2 Recent empirical research: Individual-level analysis.- The health effects of economic instability: A test of the economic stress hypothesis.- Health problems and psycho-social strains of unemployed. A summary of recent empirical research in the Federal Republic of Germany.- Unemployment: A psychiatric problem as well?.- Economic deprivation, work orientation and health conceptual ideas and some empirical findings.- Unemployment and life-style changes.- Strategies of research on economic instability and health.- Methodological problems in the measurement of health consequences of unemployment in sample surveys.- 3 Further research: Proposals and strategy.- Unemployment, the unemployed, and health. An analysis of the Dutch situation.- Prevalence of unemployment amongst those becoming ill.- Proposed research on the effects of unemployment on health in Scunthorpe.- Outline of a study on the immediate and longterm ill-effects of a plant shutdown in a rural community.- Some suggestions for future research on economic instability andhealth.- Recession & health — a research strategy.- The effects of unemployment on health and public awareness of this in the Federal Republic of Germany.- Study on the influence of economic development on health. Report on the WHO Planning Meeting.- List of participants/authors.- Acknowledgements.