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Hidden in Plain Sight: Stillbirths and Infanticides in Imperial Japan

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  • Drixler, Fabian F.

Abstract

Around 1900, an extraordinary number of stillbirths appeared in Japan's statistical yearbooks. This article investigates possible biological explanations but concludes that Japan's anomalous stillbirth rates were primarily the result of the deliberate misreporting of infanticides and abortions. On the basis of an international comparison spanning five centuries, it estimates that between 1886 and 1940, Japanese parents filed between 1.7 and 2.8 million false stillbirth reports.

Suggested Citation

  • Drixler, Fabian F., 2016. "Hidden in Plain Sight: Stillbirths and Infanticides in Imperial Japan," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 76(3), pages 651-696, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:76:y:2016:i:03:p:651-696_00
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    Cited by:

    1. Ogasawara, Kota, 2022. "Pandemic influenza and gender imbalance: Mortality selection before births," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 311(C).
    2. Yuzuru Kumon, 2020. "The Labor Intensive Path: Wages, Incomes and the Work Year in Japan, 1610-1932," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-1154, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    3. Kota Ogasawara, 2022. "Persistence of natural disasters on children's health: Evidence from the Great Kantō Earthquake of 1923," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(4), pages 1054-1082, November.
    4. Schneider, Eric B. & Ogasawara, Kota, 2017. "Disease and child growth in industrialising Japan: assessing instantaneous changes in growth and changes in the growth pattern, 1911-39," Economic History Working Papers 84066, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    5. Kota Ogasawara & Yukitoshi Matsushita, 2019. "Heterogeneous treatment effects of safe water on infectious disease: Do meteorological factors matter?," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 13(1), pages 55-82, January.
    6. Ogasawara, Kota & Matsushita, Yukitoshi, 2018. "Public health and multiple-phase mortality decline: Evidence from industrializing Japan," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 29(C), pages 198-210.
    7. Kota Ogasawara, 2021. "Technology, Institution, and Regional Growth: Evidence from Mineral Mining Industry in Industrializing Japan," Papers 2112.14514, arXiv.org, revised Oct 2024.
    8. Ogasawara, Kota, 2018. "The long-run effects of pandemic influenza on the development of children from elite backgrounds: Evidence from industrializing Japan," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 31(C), pages 125-137.

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