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What are the health benefits of a constant water supply? Evidence from London, 1860–1910

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  • Troesken, Werner
  • Tynan, Nicola
  • Yang, Yuanxiaoyue Artemis

Abstract

What are the benefits of moving from intermittent water delivery (which limits user access to less than 24 h per day) to constant service? To address this question, we study the transition from intermittent to constant water supply in London. Between 1871 and 1910, the proportion of London households with access to a constant water supply (24 h a day, 7 days a week) rose from less than 20–100 percent. Idiosyncratic delays in the negotiation process between companies and property owners generated random variation in the timing of the transition across London districts. Exploiting this variation, we find that a one percentage point increase in a local population with access to constant service decreased deaths from waterborne diseases by as much as 0.4 percent and explains approximately a fifth of the late nineteenth century decline in waterborne disease mortality. Results are robust to the inclusion of controls for population density, concerns regarding the reporting of cause-of-death, district-specific time trends, district demographics and spatial autocorrelation.

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  • Troesken, Werner & Tynan, Nicola & Yang, Yuanxiaoyue Artemis, 2021. "What are the health benefits of a constant water supply? Evidence from London, 1860–1910," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:exehis:v:81:y:2021:i:c:s0014498321000206
    DOI: 10.1016/j.eeh.2021.101402
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    1. Troesken, Werner & Tynan, Nicola & Yang, Yuanxiaoyue Artemis, 2021. "What are the health benefits of a constant water supply? Evidence from London, 1860–1910," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
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    12. Hanlon, W. Walker & Hansen, Casper Worm & Kantor, Jake, 2021. "Temperature, Disease, and Death in London: Analyzing Weekly Data for the Century from 1866 to 1965," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 81(1), pages 40-80, March.
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    1. Troesken, Werner & Tynan, Nicola & Yang, Yuanxiaoyue Artemis, 2021. "What are the health benefits of a constant water supply? Evidence from London, 1860–1910," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 81(C).
    2. Jonathan Chapman, 2021. "Interest Rates, Sanitation Infrastructure, and Mortality Decline in Nineteenth-Century England and Wales," Working Papers 0218, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    3. Toke S. Aidt & Romola J. Davenport & Felix Gray, 2023. "New perspectives on the contribution of sanitary investments to mortality decline in English cities, 1845–1909," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(2), pages 624-660, May.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Water supply; Mortality; London; 19th century; Public health;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health
    • N93 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • L95 - Industrial Organization - - Industry Studies: Transportation and Utilities - - - Gas Utilities; Pipelines; Water Utilities

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