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Famine and Disease in Economic History: A Summary Introduction

Author

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  • Guido Alfani
  • Cormac Ó Gráda

Abstract

Understanding mortality crises is an important part of understanding some fundamental aspects of preindustrial economies. Understanding the processes leading to their decline and the associated improvements in living standards and life expectancy is a precondition for knowing what is needed to prevent the re-emergence of widespread famine and lethal infectious disease. This short paper introduces a field in which policy makers and economists need to carefully consider the past, before making assumptions about the future.

Suggested Citation

  • Guido Alfani & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2018. "Famine and Disease in Economic History: A Summary Introduction," Working Papers 201803, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucn:wpaper:201803
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10197/9444
    File Function: First version, 2018
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Alfani, Guido & Murphy, Tommy E., 2017. "Plague and Lethal Epidemics in the Pre-Industrial World," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 77(1), pages 314-343, March.
    2. Nico Voigtländer & Hans-Joachim Voth, 2012. "Persecution Perpetuated: The Medieval Origins of Anti-Semitic Violence in Nazi Germany," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 127(3), pages 1339-1392.
    3. Neil Cummins & Morgan Kelly & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2016. "Living standards and plague in London, 1560–1665," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 69(1), pages 3-34, February.
    4. Domar, Evsey D., 1970. "The Causes of Slavery or Serfdom: A Hypothesis," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(1), pages 18-32, March.
    5. Bruce M. S. Campbell, 2010. "Nature as historical protagonist: environment and society in pre‐industrial England," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 63(2), pages 281-314, May.
    6. Fogel,Robert William, 2004. "The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700–2100," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521004886, September.
    7. Guido Alfani & Marco Percoco, 2019. "Plague and long‐term development: the lasting effects of the 1629–30 epidemic on the Italian cities," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 72(4), pages 1175-1201, November.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Famine; Disease; Epidemics; Economic history;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N10 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - General, International, or Comparative

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

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