Water and Chicago’s mortality transition, 1850–1925

Ferrie, Joseph P.; Troesken, Werner

doi:10.1016/j.eeh.2007.06.001

Cited by 157 publications

(112 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…According to the selection hypothesis, many 1918 influenza deaths were among people with tuberculosis, and the post-epidemic population was therefore healthier. Using data from Chicago, 1850–1925, Ferrie and Troesken (2008, p. 12) make a similar observation: “influenza and scarlet fever appear to have been killing off the weakest and most vulnerable parts of the population so that high death rates from these diseases actually reduced death rates from other causes”.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Testing the influenza–tuberculosis selective mortality hypothesis with Union Army data

Noymer

2009

Social Science & Medicine

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Using Cox regression, this paper shows a weak association between having tuberculosis and dying from influenza among Union Army veterans in late nineteenth-century America. It has been suggested elsewhere [Noymer, A. and M. Garenne (2000). The 1918 influenza epidemic’s effects on sex differentials in mortality in the United States. Population and Development Review 26(3), 565–581.] that the 1918 influenza pandemic accelerated the decline of tuberculosis, by killing many people with tuberculosis. The question remains whether individuals with tuberculosis were at greater risk of influenza death, or if the 1918/post-1918 phenomenon arose from the sheer number of deaths in the influenza pandemic. The present findings, from microdata, cautiously point toward an explanation of Noymer and Garenne’s selection effect in terms of age-overlap of the 1918 pandemic mortality and tuberculosis morbidity, a phenomenon I term “passive selection”. Another way to think of this is selection at the cohort, as opposed to individual, level.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 91%

Testing the influenza–tuberculosis selective mortality hypothesis with Union Army data

Noymer

2009

Social Science & Medicine

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“…41 The most common way to contract bovine tuberculosis was through contaminated milk. Non-pulmonary tuberculosis was 2 percent of the overall death 39 See Lee (2007), Ferrie and Troesken (2008), and Condran et al (1984). 40 Alternatively, one could control for the timing of the adoption of water purification.…”

Section: Identificationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Lead and Mortality

Clay

Troesken

Haines

2010

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This paper examines the effect of water-borne lead exposure on infant mortality in American cities over the period . Infants are highly sensitive to lead, and more broadly are a marker for current environmental conditions. The effects of lead on infant mortality are identified by variation across cities in water acidity and the types of service pipes that the water ran through -lead, iron, or concrete -which together determined the extent of lead exposure. Estimates that restrict the sample to cities with lead pipes and panel estimates provide further support for the causal link between water-borne lead and infant mortality. The magnitudes of the effects were large. In 1900, a decline in exposure equivalent to an increase in pH from 6.675 (25th percentile) to 7.3 (50th percentile) in cities with lead-only pipes would have been associated with a decrease in infant mortality of 7 to 33 percent or at least 12 fewer infant deaths per 1,000 live births. This paper examines the effect of water-borne lead exposure on infant mortality in American cities over the period 1900-1920. Infants are highly sensitive to lead, and more broadly are a marker for current environmental conditions. The effects of lead on infant mortality are identified by variation across cities in water acidity and the types of service pipes that the water ran through -lead, iron, or concrete -which together determined the extent of lead exposure.Estimates that restrict the sample to cities with lead pipes and panel estimates provide further support for the causal link between water-borne lead and infant mortality. The magnitudes of the effects were large. In 1900, a decline in exposure equivalent to an increase in pH from 6.675 (25th percentile) to 7.3 (50th percentile) in cities with lead-only pipes would have been associated with a decrease in infant mortality of 7 to 33 percent or at least 12 fewer infant deaths per 1,000 live births.

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“…The historical literature on U.S. infant mortality includes Cheney (1984), Condran and Lentzner (2004), Condran and Murphy (2008) and Preston and Haines (1991). Seminal contributions include Cain and Rotella (2001), on water and sewerage infrastructure by major city; Condran and Cheney (1982), on mortality changes within Philadelphia; Condran and Crimmins-Gardner (1978), demonstrating the importance of public works in the decrease of waterborne diseases; Ferrie and Troesken (2008), on clean water and a general decline of nonwaterborne diseases; and Meeker (1972), a pioneering piece on waterborne disease and river spillovers. See also Beach, Ferrie, Saavedra and Troesken (2016), on long-run payoffs to water purification; Galiani, Gertler and Schargrodsky (2005), on privatization of water services in Argentina; and Troesken (2001Troesken ( , 2002 on race-specific typhoid mortality and water provision.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Watersheds in Child Mortality: The Role of Effective Water and Sewerage Infrastructure, 1880 to 1920

Alsan

Goldin

2015

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Water and Chicago’s mortality transition, 1850–1925

Cited by 157 publications

References 25 publications

Testing the influenza–tuberculosis selective mortality hypothesis with Union Army data

Testing the influenza–tuberculosis selective mortality hypothesis with Union Army data

Lead and Mortality

Watersheds in Child Mortality: The Role of Effective Water and Sewerage Infrastructure, 1880 to 1920

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