Coal Smoke and Mortality in an Early Industrial Economy

Beach, Brian; Hanlon, W. Walker

doi:10.1111/ecoj.12522

Cited by 86 publications

(80 citation statements)

References 50 publications

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“…Examples of works using these sources include Szreter, Health and wealth ; Woods and Shelton, Atlas of Victorian mortality ; and Beach and Hanlon, ‘Coal smoke’.…”

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confidence: 99%

The contribution of infrastructure investment to Britain's urban mortality decline, 1861–1900

Chapman

2018

The Economic History Review

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It is well-recognized that both improved nutrition and sanitation infrastructure are important contributors to mortality decline. However, the relative importance of the two factors is difficult to quantify since most studies are limited to testing the effects of specific sanitary improvements. This article uses new historical data regarding total investment in urban infrastructure, measured using the outstanding loan stock, to estimate the extent to which the mortality decline in England and Wales between 1861 and 1900 can be attributed to government expenditure. Fixed effects regressions indicate that infrastructure investment explains approximately 30 per cent of the decline in mortality between 1861 and 1900. Since these specifications may not fully account for the endogeneity between investment and mortality, additional specifications are estimated using lagged investment as an instrument for current investment. These estimates suggest that government investment was the major contributor to mortality decline, explaining up to 60 per cent of the reduction in total urban mortality between 1861 and 1900. Additional results indicate that investment in urban infrastructure led to declines in mortality from both waterborne and airborne diseases.B etween 1851 and 1900 mortality rates in Britain declined by almost 20 per cent. Over the same period, local government expenditure on urban infrastructure increased rapidly so that by 1890 spending by local authorities accounted for over 41 per cent of total public expenditure, with much of the money used for water supply and sewers. 1 This simple pattern leads to the natural conclusion that government sanitation expenditure was the driving force behind the improvement in life expectancy. This belief is also supported by evidence from other countries showing that investment in sanitary infrastructure, such as clean water supply, can have positive effects on mortality, both in the present day 2 and historically. 3

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“…Examples of works using these sources include Szreter, Health and wealth ; Woods and Shelton, Atlas of Victorian mortality ; and Beach and Hanlon, ‘Coal smoke’.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

The contribution of infrastructure investment to Britain's urban mortality decline, 1861–1900

Chapman

2018

The Economic History Review

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“…This type of model allows us to include additional fixed effects as compared to the previous DiD model. For example, city-by-year fixed effects account for all the variation that occurs between the different cities over time, such as processes of convergence or divergence in, for example, income, income inequality, or mortality; local political or institutional changes; migration; and pollution (e.g., Beach and Hanlon, 2016).…”

Section: Difference-in-differences Modelmentioning

confidence: 99%

Preventing the White Death: Tuberculosis Dispensaries

Egedesø

Hansen

Jensen

2020

The Economic Journal

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Abstract Tuberculosis (TB) is a leading cause of death worldwide and while treatable by antibiotics since the 1940s, drug resistant strains have emerged. This article estimates the effects of the establishment of a pre-antibiotic public health institution, known as a TB dispensary, designed to prevent the spread of the disease. Our annual difference-in-differences estimation reveals that the rollout of the dispensaries across Danish cities led to a 19% decline in the TB mortality rate, but no significant impacts on other diseases when performing placebo regressions. We next take advantage of the dispensaries explicit targeting on TB to setup a triple-differences model which exploits other diseases as controls and obtain a similar magnitude of the effect. As for the mechanism, the evidence highlights the dispensaries’ preventive actions, such as information provision. At an estimated cost as low as 68 dollars per saved life-year, this particular public-health institution was extraordinarily cost effective. Overall, our evidence suggests a policy for developing countries to combat drug resistant TB.

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“…169–74). Second, richer households may have been able to sort into higher quality accommodation or into healthier neighbourhoods or locations (Beach and Hanlon ; Bailey et al . ).…”

Section: Household Characteristics Nutritional Intake and Health Stmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…169-74). Second, richer households may have been able to sort into higher quality accommodation or into healthier neighbourhoods or locations (Beach and Hanlon 2017;Bailey et al 2018). Fewer than 45 per cent of households had access to running water taps in Hakusan Goten town where the survey was conducted (Ogasawara et al, 2018, p. 11).…”

Section: Calorie Intake Crowding and Health Outcomesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Nutrition, Crowding, and Disease Among Low‐income Households in Tokyo in 1930

2020

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This article employs a household survey of low‐income working‐class households conducted in Tokyo in 1930 to investigate nutritional attainment levels and the relationship between calorie intake and morbidity. We find that the daily calorie intake was 2,118 kcal per adult male equivalent, high enough to satisfy the energy requirements for moderate physical activity. Richer households purchased more expensive calories mainly by substituting meat and vegetables for rice. We find negative associations between morbidity and income and crowding, but no significant associations for nutrition, tentatively suggesting that income and crowding were more important for morbidity in 1930 Tokyo than nutrition.

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Coal Smoke and Mortality in an Early Industrial Economy

Cited by 86 publications

References 50 publications

The contribution of infrastructure investment to Britain's urban mortality decline, 1861–1900

The contribution of infrastructure investment to Britain's urban mortality decline, 1861–1900

Preventing the White Death: Tuberculosis Dispensaries

Nutrition, Crowding, and Disease Among Low‐income Households in Tokyo in 1930

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