Transportation and Health in the Antebellum United States, 1820-1847

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Vanderbilt University; National Bureau of Economic Research
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050720000315
• 发表日期: 2020
• 页码: 670-709
• 关键词: economic specialization; interregional canals; dietary change; urban-growth; native-born; height; industrialization; population; mortality; selection

摘要

I study the impact of transportation on health in the rural United States, 1820-1847. Measuring health by average stature, I find that greater transportation linkage, as measured by market access, in a cohort's county-year of birth had an adverse impact on its health. A one-standard-deviation increase in market access reduced average stature by 0.14 inches, and rising market access over the study period can explain 37 percent of the contemporaneous decline in average stature, known as theAntebellum Puzzle. I find evidence that transportation affected health by increasing population density, leading to a worse epidemiological environment.