Cause of Death and Development in the US
38 Pages Posted: 29 Nov 2012 Last revised: 11 Feb 2014
Date Written: 2013
Abstract
Exploiting cross-state variation in infectious causes of death, together with time variation arising from medical innovations toward the middle of the twentieth century, this study examines the consequences of a positive health shock within US states. It establishes that states with higher levels of mortality from infectious causes prior to the onset of the era of big medicine experienced greater increases in life expectancy, population, and total GDP after its onset, whereas per capita GDP remained largely unchanged. Together the evidence suggests that the rise in life expectancy had an insignificant effect on living standards in the US during the period 1940--2000. The results are robust to controlling for initial health and initial economic conditions.
Keywords: Economic growth; Medical innovations; Second US Mortality Revolution; Population growth; US states
JEL Classification: I15, J24, O11, O51
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation
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