Births, deaths, and new deal relief during the Great Depression
By: Price V. Fishback, Michael R. Haines, Shawn Kantor.
Contributors: Haines, Michael R.; Kantor, Shawn Everett.; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series ;; working paper 11246; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) ;; working paper no. 11246.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Subjects: United States -- Population -- History -- 20th century.; New Deal, 1933-1939.; Infants -- United States -- Mortality -- Econometric models.; Childbirth -- United States -- Statistics.; United States -- Social conditions -- 1933-1945.
Genres: Statistics.
Description: "This paper examines the impact of New Deal relief programs on infant mortality, noninfant mortality and general fertility rates in major U.S. cities between 1929 and 1940.  We estimate the effects using a variety of specifications and techniques for a panel of 114 cities for which data on relief spending during the 1930s were available.  The significant rise in relief spending during the New Deal contributed to reductions in infant mortality, suicide rates, and some other causes of death, while contributing to increases in the general fertility rate.  Estimates of the relationship between economic activity and death rates suggest that many types of death rates were pro-cyclical, similar to Ruhm's (2000) findings for the modern U.S.  Estimates of the relief costs associated with saving a life (adjusted for inflation) are similar to estimates found in studies of modern social insurance programs"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
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