IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/aea/aecrev/v105y2015i5p564-69.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Declining Mortality Inequality within Cities during the Health Transition

Author

Listed:
  • Dora L. Costa
  • Matthew E. Kahn

Abstract

In the United States in the late 19th and early 20th century, large cities had extremely high death rates from infectious disease. Within major cities such as New York City and Philadelphia, there was significant variation at any point in time in the mortality rate across neighborhoods. Between 1900 and 1930 neighborhood mortality convergence took place in New York City and Philadelphia. We document these trends and discuss their consequences for neighborhood quality of life dynamics and the economic incidence of who gains from effective public health interventions.

Suggested Citation

  • Dora L. Costa & Matthew E. Kahn, 2015. "Declining Mortality Inequality within Cities during the Health Transition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 105(5), pages 564-569, May.
    • Handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:105:y:2015:i:5:p:564-69
    Note: DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20151070
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.aeaweb.org/articles.php?doi=10.1257/aer.p20151070
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/aer/ds/10505/P2015_1070_ds.zip
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.aeaweb.org/aer/data/10505/P2015_1070_data.zip
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to AEA members and institutional subscribers.
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. David M. Cutler & Grant Miller, 2006. "Water, Water Everywhere. Municipal Finance and Water Supply in American Cities," NBER Chapters, in: Corruption and Reform: Lessons from America's Economic History, pages 153-183, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    2. Raj Chetty & Nathaniel Hendren & Patrick Kline & Emmanuel Saez, 2014. "Where is the land of Opportunity? The Geography of Intergenerational Mobility in the United States," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 129(4), pages 1553-1623.
    3. Atack, Jeremy & Margo, Robert A, 1998. ""Location, Location, Location!" The Price Gradient for Vacant Urban Land: New York, 1835 to 1900," The Journal of Real Estate Finance and Economics, Springer, vol. 16(2), pages 151-172, March.
    4. David Cutler & Grant Miller, 2005. "The role of public health improvements in health advances: The twentieth-century United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 42(1), pages 1-22, February.
    5. Dora L. Costa & Matthew E. Kahn, 2015. "Death and the Media: Asymmetries in Infectious Disease Reporting During the Health Transition," NBER Working Papers 21073, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Past Evidence on Trends in Within City Health Inequality
      by Matthew Kahn in Environmental and Urban Economics on 2015-05-17 19:23:00
    2. Incorporating Local Public Health Dynamics into The Rosen/Roback Spatial Equilibrium Model
      by Matthew E. Kahn in Environmental and Urban Economics on 2021-10-24 12:11:00
    3. Will the Biden Administration's Trillion Dollar Investment in Infrastructure Unlock the Potential of Post-Industrial Cities?
      by Matthew E. Kahn in Environmental and Urban Economics on 2021-11-09 21:31:00
    4. Disease and Unease in New York City (Part I): Mortality Rates since 1800
      by Jason Barr in Skynomics Blog on 2020-06-16 12:15:11

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Anderson, D. Mark & Charles, Kerwin Kofi & Rees, Daniel I., 2018. "Public Health Efforts and the Decline in Urban Mortality," IZA Discussion Papers 11773, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Dora L. Costa & Matthew E. Kahn, 2017. "Death and the Media: Infectious Disease Reporting During the Health Transition," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 84(335), pages 393-416, July.
    3. D. Mark Anderson & Kerwin Kofi Charles & Daniel I. Rees, 2018. "Public Health Efforts and the Decline in Urban Mortality," NBER Working Papers 25027, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. Kesztenbaum, Lionel & Rosenthal, Jean-Laurent, 2017. "Sewers’ diffusion and the decline of mortality: The case of Paris, 1880–1914," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 98(C), pages 174-186.
    5. Matthew E. Kahn, 2017. "Will Climate Change Cause Enormous Social Costs for Poor Asian Cities?," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 34(2), pages 229-248, September.
    6. Hoehn-Velasco, Lauren, 2018. "Explaining declines in US rural mortality, 1910–1933: The role of county health departments," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 42-72.
    7. Shrestha, Vinish, 2020. "Maternal education and infant health gradient: New answers to old questions," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 39(C).
    8. Janet Currie & Hannes Schwandt, 2016. "Mortality Inequality: The Good News from a County-Level Approach," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 30(2), pages 29-52, Spring.
    9. Albers, Thilo N.H. & Kappner, Kalle, 2023. "Perks and pitfalls of city directories as a micro-geographic data source," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 87(C).
    10. Beach, Brian, 2022. "Water infrastructure and health in U.S. cities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Allison Shertzer & Randall P. Walsh, 2019. "Racial Sorting and the Emergence of Segregation in American Cities," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 101(3), pages 415-427, July.
    2. Hoehn-Velasco, Lauren, 2018. "Explaining declines in US rural mortality, 1910–1933: The role of county health departments," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 42-72.
    3. Feigenbaum, James J. & Muller, Christopher, 2016. "Lead exposure and violent crime in the early twentieth century," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 62(C), pages 51-86.
    4. Dora L. Costa, 2015. "Health and the Economy in the United States from 1750 to the Present," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(3), pages 503-570, September.
    5. Carol A. Heimer & Elsinore Kuo, 2021. "Subterranean successes: Durable regulation and regulatory endowments," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 15(S1), pages 63-82, November.
    6. Daron Acemoglu & Simon Johnson, 2007. "Disease and Development: The Effect of Life Expectancy on Economic Growth," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 115(6), pages 925-985, December.
    7. Beach, Brian, 2022. "Water infrastructure and health in U.S. cities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    8. Matthew E. Kahn, 2017. "Will Climate Change Cause Enormous Social Costs for Poor Asian Cities?," Asian Development Review, MIT Press, vol. 34(2), pages 229-248, September.
    9. Brian Beach & Werner Troesken & Nicola Tynan, 2016. "Who Should Own and Control Urban Water Systems? Historical Evidence from England and Wales," NBER Working Papers 22553, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. W. Walker Hanlon, 2015. "Pollution and Mortality in the 19th Century," NBER Working Papers 21647, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    11. Nicola Tynan & Brian Beach & Werner Troesken, 2016. "Who should own and control urban water systems? Disease and the municipalisation of private waterworks in nineteenth-century England," Working Papers 16006, Economic History Society.
    12. Dora L. Costa & Matthew E. Kahn, 2015. "Death and the Media: Asymmetries in Infectious Disease Reporting During the Health Transition," NBER Working Papers 21073, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. Jo Blanden, 2019. "Intergenerational income persistence," IZA World of Labor, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), pages 176-176, January.
    14. Maia Güell & Michele Pellizzari & Giovanni Pica & José V. Rodríguez Mora, 2018. "Correlating Social Mobility and Economic Outcomes," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(612), pages 353-403, July.
    15. Andrés Rodríguez-Pose & Michael Storper, 2020. "Housing, urban growth and inequalities: The limits to deregulation and upzoning in reducing economic and spatial inequality," Urban Studies, Urban Studies Journal Limited, vol. 57(2), pages 223-248, February.
    16. Alex Hollingsworth & Krzysztof Karbownik & Melissa A. Thomasson & Anthony Wray, 2024. "The Gift of a Lifetime: The Hospital, Modern Medicine, and Mortality," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 114(7), pages 2201-2238, July.
    17. repec:spo:wpmain:info:hdl:2441/6s39gt704s95upu27ma7s3p6q8 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. M. Shahe Emran & Francisco H. G. Ferreira & Yajing Jiang & Yan Sun, 2023. "Occupational dualism and intergenerational educational mobility in the rural economy: evidence from China and India," The Journal of Economic Inequality, Springer;Society for the Study of Economic Inequality, vol. 21(3), pages 743-773, September.
    19. Karen Clay & Werner Troesken & Michael Haines, 2014. "Lead and Mortality," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(3), pages 458-470, July.
    20. Andreas Fagereng & Luigi Guiso & Davide Malacrino & Luigi Pistaferri, 2020. "Heterogeneity and Persistence in Returns to Wealth," Econometrica, Econometric Society, vol. 88(1), pages 115-170, January.
    21. Adrian Adermon & Mikael Lindahl & Daniel Waldenström, 2018. "Intergenerational Wealth Mobility and the Role of Inheritance: Evidence from Multiple Generations," Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 128(612), pages 482-513, July.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • D63 - Microeconomics - - Welfare Economics - - - Equity, Justice, Inequality, and Other Normative Criteria and Measurement
    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • N31 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • N32 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • N91 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913
    • N92 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - U.S.; Canada: 1913-
    • R23 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - Household Analysis - - - Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:aea:aecrev:v:105:y:2015:i:5:p:564-69. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Michael P. Albert (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/aeaaaea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.