IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/nbr/nberwo/10868.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Autopsy on an Empire: Understanding Mortality in Russia and the Former Soviet Union

Author

Listed:
  • Elizabeth Brainerd
  • David M. Cutler

Abstract

Male life expectancy at birth fell by over six years in Russia between 1989 and 1994. Many other countries of the former Soviet Union saw similar declines, and female life expectancy fell as well. Using cross-country and Russian household survey data, we assess six possible explanations for this upsurge in mortality. Most find little support in the data: the deterioration of the health care system, changes in diet and obesity, and material deprivation fail to explain the increase in mortality rates. The two factors that do appear to be important are alcohol consumption, especially as it relates to external causes of death (homicide, suicide, and accidents) and stress associated with a poor outlook for the future. However, a large residual remains to be explained.

Suggested Citation

  • Elizabeth Brainerd & David M. Cutler, 2004. "Autopsy on an Empire: Understanding Mortality in Russia and the Former Soviet Union," NBER Working Papers 10868, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:10868
    Note: EH
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.nber.org/papers/w10868.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Judyth Twigg, 1998. "Balancing the state and the market: Russia's adoption of obligatory medical insurance," Europe-Asia Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 50(4), pages 583-602.
    2. Elizabeth Brainerd & David M. Cutler, 2005. "Autopsy on an Empire: Understanding Mortality in Russia and the Former Soviet Union," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 19(1), pages 107-130, Winter.
    3. Mr. Robert J. Flanagan, 1995. "Wage Structure in the Transition of the Czech Economy," IMF Working Papers 1995/036, International Monetary Fund.
    4. Brainerd, Elizabeth, 1998. "Winners and Losers in Russia's Economic Transition," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 88(5), pages 1094-1116, December.
    5. Field, Mark G., 1995. "The health crisis in the former Soviet Union: A report from the 'post-war' zone," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 41(11), pages 1469-1478, December.
    6. Watson, Peggy, 1995. "Explaining rising mortality among men in Eastern Europe," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 41(7), pages 923-934, October.
    7. Andrei Shleifer & Daniel Treisman, 2003. "A Normal Country," NBER Working Papers 10057, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    8. David M. Cutler & Edward L. Glaeser & Jesse M. Shapiro, 2003. "Why Have Americans Become More Obese?," Journal of Economic Perspectives, American Economic Association, vol. 17(3), pages 93-118, Summer.
    9. Shkolnikov, Vladimir M. & Leon, David A. & Adamets, Sergey & Eugeniy Andreev & Deev, Alexander, 1998. "Educational level and adult mortality in Russia: An analysis of routine data 1979 to 1994," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 47(3), pages 357-369, August.
    10. Robert J. Flanagan, 1995. "Wage Structures in the Transition of the Czech Economy," IMF Staff Papers, Palgrave Macmillan, vol. 42(4), pages 836-854, December.
    11. Cornia, Giovanni Andrea & Paniccia, Renato (ed.), 2000. "The Mortality Crisis in Transitional Economies," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198297413.
    12. Mendez, Oscar & Cutler, David & Knaul, Felicia & Lozano, Rafael & Zurita, Beatriz, 2002. "Financial Crisis, Health Outcomes, and Aging: Mexico in the 1980s and 1990s," Scholarly Articles 2707939, Harvard University Department of Economics.
    13. Ellman, Michael, 1994. "The Increase in Death and Disease under "Katastroika."," Cambridge Journal of Economics, Cambridge Political Economy Society, vol. 18(4), pages 329-355, August.
    14. Stillman, Steven & Thomas, Duncan, 2004. "The Effect of Economic Crises on Nutritional Status: Evidence from Russia," IZA Discussion Papers 1092, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Laurent Chenet & David Leon & Martin Mckee & Serguei Vassin, 1998. "Deaths from Alcohol and Violence in Moscow: Socio-economic Determinants," European Journal of Population, Springer;European Association for Population Studies, vol. 14(1), pages 19-37, March.
    16. Jan Rutkowski, 1996. "High skills pay off: the changing wage structure during economic transition in Poland," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 4(1), pages 89-112, May.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Giovanni Andrea Cornia, 2022. "Transition, Recession and Mortality Crisis in the Former Soviet Bloc: an update to the year 2014," Working Papers - Economics wp2022_04.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    2. Stillman, Steven, 2006. "Health and nutrition in Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union during the decade of transition: A review of the literature," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 4(1), pages 104-146, January.
    3. Irina Denisova, 2010. "Adult mortality in Russia," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 18(2), pages 333-363, April.
    4. Patrick Hamm & David Stuckler & Lawrence King, 2006. "Mass Privatization and the Postcommunist Mortality Crisis," Working Papers wp118, Political Economy Research Institute, University of Massachusetts at Amherst.
    5. Michael Lokshin & Martin Ravallion, 2008. "Testing for an economic gradient in health status using subjective data," Health Economics, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 17(11), pages 1237-1259, November.
    6. Puhani, Patrick A., 1997. "All Quiet on the Wage Front? Gender, Public-Private Sector Issues, and Rigidities in the Polish Wage Structure," ZEW Discussion Papers 97-03, ZEW - Leibniz Centre for European Economic Research.
    7. Elizabeth Brainerd, 2021. "Mortality in Russia Since the Fall of the Soviet Union," Comparative Economic Studies, Palgrave Macmillan;Association for Comparative Economic Studies, vol. 63(4), pages 557-576, December.
    8. Keane, Michael P. & Prasad, Eswar S., 2006. "Changes in the structure of earnings during the Polish transition," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 80(2), pages 389-427, August.
    9. Norio Horie & Ichiro Iwasaki, 2023. "Returns to schooling in European emerging markets: a meta-analysis," Education Economics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 31(1), pages 102-128, January.
    10. Nikoloski, Zlatko & Ajwad, Mohamed Ihsan, 2013. "Do economic crises lead to health and nutrition behavior responses ? analysis using longitudinal data from Russia," Policy Research Working Paper Series 6538, The World Bank.
    11. Michael M. Lokshin & Branko Jovanovic, 2003. "Wage differentials and state‐private sector employment choice in Yugoslavia," The Economics of Transition, The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, vol. 11(3), pages 463-491, September.
    12. Lokshin, Michael & Ravallion, Martin, 2005. "Searching for the economic gradient in self-assessed health," Policy Research Working Paper Series 3698, The World Bank.
    13. Christopher Gerry & Tomasz Marek Mickiewicz & Zlatko Nikoloski, 2010. "Did Mass Privatisation really increase Post-Communist male mortality?," UCL SSEES Economics and Business working paper series 103, UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies (SSEES).
    14. Elizabeth Brainerd, 2010. "Human Development in Eastern Europe and the CIS Since 1990," Human Development Research Papers (2009 to present) HDRP-2010-16, Human Development Report Office (HDRO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    15. Philipp Rother, 2002. "Inflation in Albania," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 14(1), pages 85-107.
    16. Gabriela Grotkowska & Leszek Wincenciak, 2014. "Public sector wage premium in Poland: can it be explained by structural differences in employment?," Ekonomia journal, Faculty of Economic Sciences, University of Warsaw, vol. 38.
    17. Elizabeth Brainerd, 2000. "How Does Privatization Affect Workers? The Case of the Russian Mass Privatization Program," William Davidson Institute Working Papers Series 303, William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan.
    18. Stefan Bojnec, 2003. "Wage formation during economic transformation: macroeconomic facts and firm survey evidence from Slovenia," Post-Communist Economies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 15(4), pages 571-593.
    19. Oleksiy Ivaschenko, 2004. "Longevity in Russia's Regions: Do Poverty and Low Public Health Spending Kill?," WIDER Working Paper Series RP2004-40, World Institute for Development Economic Research (UNU-WIDER).
    20. Pavel Grigoriev & France Meslé & Vladimir M. Shkolnikov & Evgeny Andreev & Agnieszka Fihel & Marketa Pechholdova & Jacques Vallin, 2014. "The Recent Mortality Decline in Russia: Beginning of the Cardiovascular Revolution?," Population and Development Review, The Population Council, Inc., vol. 40(1), pages 107-129, March.

    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • I1 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health
    • P0 - Political Economy and Comparative Economic Systems - - General

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:10868. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: the person in charge (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/nberrus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.