Cause of death and development in the US

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Hansen, Casper Worm
• 署名单位: Aarhus University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF DEVELOPMENT ECONOMICS
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0304-3878
• DOI: 10.1016/j.jdeveco.2014.03.013
• 发表日期: 2014
• 页码: 143-153
• 关键词: economic growth; Medical innovations; Second US Mortality Revolution; Population growth; US states

摘要

Exploiting cross-state variation in infectious causes of death, along with time variation arising from medical innovations toward the middle of the twentieth century, this study examines the consequences of a positive health shock in the US. 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 no significant effect on living standards in the US during the time period 1940-1980. These results are robust to controlling for initial health and initial economic conditions. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.