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The health cost of living in a city: The case of France at the end of the 19th century

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  • Kesztenbaum, Lionel
  • Rosenthal, Jean-Laurent

Abstract

Despite a long standing debate over urban living conditions during industrialization, the impact of rural-urban migrations on health and mortality remains an open question. We observe both mortality and geographical mobility in a large longitudinal dataset of French males and show that rural-urban migrants benefited from clear advantages over those who already lived in the city. However, this benefit fades in a few years. Further we find no evidence of a spike in mortality among rural migrants as they encountered the more severe disease environment of cities, instead it seems their initially superior physical human capital was depleted over time.

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  • Kesztenbaum, Lionel & Rosenthal, Jean-Laurent, 2011. "The health cost of living in a city: The case of France at the end of the 19th century," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 207-225, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:exehis:v:48:y:2011:i:2:p:207-225
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    3. Marina Gindelsky & Remi Jedwab, 2023. "Killer cities and industrious cities? New data and evidence on 250 years of urban growth," Journal of Economic Geography, Oxford University Press, vol. 23(1), pages 179-208.
    4. Lionel Kesztenbaum & Jean-Laurent Rosenthal, 2014. "Income versus Sanitation; Mortality Decline in Paris, 1880-1914," PSE Working Papers halshs-01018594, HAL.
    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.
    6. Frederick Ato Armah & Mengieng Ung & Sheila A. Boamah & Isaac Luginaah & Gwyn Campbell, 2017. "Out of the frying pan into the fire? Urban penalty of the poor and multiple barriers to climate change adaptation in Cambodia and Tanzania," Journal of Environmental Studies and Sciences, Springer;Association of Environmental Studies and Sciences, vol. 7(1), pages 69-86, March.
    7. Beach, Brian, 2022. "Water infrastructure and health in U.S. cities," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    8. Hanlon, W.Walker & Heblich, Stephan, 2022. "History and urban economics," Regional Science and Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 94(C).
    9. Leah Platt Boustan & Devin Bunten & Owen Hearey, 2013. "Urbanization in the United States, 1800-2000," Working Papers 2013-7, Princeton University. Economics Department..
    10. Volha Lazuka & Luciana Quaranta & Tommy Bengtsson, 2016. "Fighting Infectious Disease: Evidence from Sweden 1870–1940," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 42(1), pages 27-52, March.
    11. Stark, Oded & Pang, Yu & Fan, Simon, 2024. "Agglomeration, Pollution, and Migration: A Substantial Link, and Policy Design," EconStor Open Access Book Chapters, in: World Scientific Handbook of Global Migration, Volume 3: Types of Migrants and Economies: A Global Perspective, pages 199-225, ZBW - Leibniz Information Centre for Economics.
    12. 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.
    13. W. Walker Hanlon, 2015. "Pollution and Mortality in the 19th Century," NBER Working Papers 21647, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Hannaliis Jaadla & Allan Puur & Kaja Rahu, 2017. "Socioeconomic and cultural differentials in mortality in a late 19th century urban setting: A linked records study from Tartu, Estonia, 1897-1900," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(1), pages 1-40.

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    Migration Health Differential mortality Rural-urban gap France;

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