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Health and education during industrialization: Evidence from early twentieth century Japan

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  • Ogasawara, Kota

Abstract

By exploiting the detailed information available from the household surveys conducted in Tokyo after the First World War, this study investigates children's status in working-class households in Japan. Our analysis suggests that parental health shocks reduced the probability of girls attending secondary school by 29% in the case of maternal illness and 32% in the case of paternal illness. The sizable effect of parental health shocks on the schooling of girls confirms the gender bias in educational investment in urban working-class households in the early 1920s in Japan. Our finding also sheds light on the possibility that general improvements in parental health improved the educational attainment of their daughters. Although less than conclusive, part of human capital accumulation through educational investment in the prewar period, which accelerated postwar sustainable economic growth, might have been accelerated by improvements in the health status of people in the early 20th century.

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  • Ogasawara, Kota, 2018. "Health and education during industrialization: Evidence from early twentieth century Japan," International Journal of Educational Development, Elsevier, vol. 61(C), pages 40-54.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:injoed:v:61:y:2018:i:c:p:40-54
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ijedudev.2017.10.025
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    Cited by:

    1. Kota Ogasawara & Ian Gazeley & Eric B. Schneider, 2020. "Nutrition, Crowding, And Disease Among Low‐Income Households In Tokyo In 1930," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(1), pages 73-104, March.
    2. Tatsuki Inoue & Kota Ogasawara, 2018. "Chain effects of clean water: The Mills-Reincke phenomenon in early twentieth-century Japan," Papers 1805.00875, arXiv.org, revised Aug 2019.
    3. Kota Ogasawara, 2018. "Consumption smoothing in the working-class households of interwar Japan," Papers 1807.05737, arXiv.org, revised Feb 2024.
    4. Olawumi Dele Awolusi, 2021. "Economic Growth and Socioeconomic Sustainability in BRICS Countries: A Vector Error Correction Modeling Approach," Journal of Economics and Behavioral Studies, AMH International, vol. 13(3), pages 1-23.
    5. 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.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Child education; Gender disparities; Historical data; Human capital; Intra-household resource allocation; Parental health;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • D13 - Microeconomics - - Household Behavior - - - Household Production and Intrahouse Allocation
    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • J22 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demand and Supply of Labor - - - Time Allocation and Labor Supply
    • N35 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Asia including Middle East

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