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Quantifying the mortality impact of the 1935 old-age assistance

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  • Gregori Galofré-Vilà
  • Martin McKee
  • David Stuckler

Abstract

In 1935, the United States introduced the old-age assistance (OAA) program, a means-tested program to help the elderly poor. The OAA improved retirement conditions and aimed to enable older persons to live independently. We use the transition from early elderly plans to OAA and the large differences in payments and eligibility across states to show that OAA reduced mortality by between 30 and 39 percent among those older than 65 years. This finding, based on an event study design, is robust to a range of specifications, a range of fixed effects, placebo tests, and a border-pair policy discontinuity design using county-level data. The largest mortality reductions came from drops in communicable and infectious diseases, such as influenza and nephritis, and mostly affected white citizens.

Suggested Citation

  • Gregori Galofré-Vilà & Martin McKee & David Stuckler, 2022. "Quantifying the mortality impact of the 1935 old-age assistance," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 26(1), pages 62-77.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:ereveh:v:26:y:2022:i:1:p:62-77.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/ereh/heab001
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    3. Heaney, Tiarnán, 2024. "From pensions to pupils? Schooling, resource constraints and old age pensions in Ireland 1901-11," QUCEH Working Paper Series 24-09, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.

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