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The Democratization of Longevity: How the Poor Became Old in Paris, 1880–1913

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  • Lionel Kesztenbaum

    (INED - Institut national d'études démographiques, PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement, PSE - Paris-Jourdan Sciences Economiques - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - INRA - Institut National de la Recherche Agronomique - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - ENPC - École des Ponts ParisTech - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique)

  • Jean-Laurent Rosenthal

    (HSS CALTECH - Division of the Humanities and Social Sciences - CALTECH - California Institute of Technology)

Abstract

In the last decades of the nineteenth century, industrialized countries saw their urban mortality fall and the end to the rural-urban mortality differentials, once vastly favourable to rural areas. This process can be linked with two broad phenomena: a rise in income and improved sanitation. Here we focus on income and take advantage of the unusual quantity, quality, and variety of statistics computed by the statistical department of the Paris municipality from 1880 to 1914. The difference between the best and worst neighbourhoods (quartiers) in Paris in life expectancy is over 10 years in life expectancy. To explain such huge mortality differentials between neighbourhoods, we add information on income and wealth from fiscal records, the distribution on rental values for each neighbourhood. We document that the disparities in mortality between neighbourhoods were strongly related these income indicators. Over time, mortality fell partly because income increases and partly because of a change of the mortality income relationship.

Suggested Citation

  • Lionel Kesztenbaum & Jean-Laurent Rosenthal, 2016. "The Democratization of Longevity: How the Poor Became Old in Paris, 1880–1913," PSE-Ecole d'économie de Paris (Postprint) halshs-01626855, HAL.
    • Handle: RePEc:hal:pseptp:halshs-01626855
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    Cited by:

    1. Dora L. Costa, 2015. "Health and the Economy in the United States from 1750 to the Present," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(3), pages 503-570, September.
    2. Douglas Gollin & Martina Kirchberger & David Lagakos, 2017. "In Search of a Spatial Equilibrium in the Developing World," NBER Working Papers 23916, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Mathieu Lefèbvre & Pierre Pestieau & Gregory Ponthiere, 2019. "Premature mortality and poverty measurement in an OLG economy," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 32(2), pages 621-664, April.
    4. Francisco J. Marco-Garcia & Víctor A. Luque de Haro, 2023. "The persistence of social inequality in adult mortality in rural Spain, death cohorts 1546-2010," Working Papers 0238, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    5. W. Walker Hanlon, 2015. "Pollution and Mortality in the 19th Century," NBER Working Papers 21647, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    6. Leah Platt Boustan & Devin Michelle Bunten & Owen Hearey, 2013. "Urbanization in the United States, 1800-2000," NBER Working Papers 19041, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Gollin, Douglas & Kirchberger, Martina & Lagakos, David, 2021. "Do urban wage premia reflect lower amenities? Evidence from Africa," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).

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