Death and the city
Subtitle: chicago's mortality transition, 1850-1925
By: Joseph P. Ferrie, Werner Troesken.
Contributors: Troesken, Werner, 1963-; National Bureau of Economic Research.
Series: NBER working paper series ;; working paper 11427; Working paper series (National Bureau of Economic Research : Online) ;; working paper no. 11427.
Publisher: National Bureau of Economic Research
Published: 2005
Place of publication: Cambridge, MA
Language: eng
Format: Electronic resource
Subjects: Mortality -- Illinois -- Chicago -- History.; Mortality -- United States -- History.; Demographic transition -- Illinois -- Chicago -- History.; Demographic transition -- United States -- History.
Description: "Between 1850 and 1925, the crude death rate in Chicago fell by 60 percent, driven by reductions in infectious disease rates and infant and child mortality.  What lessons might be drawn from the mortality transition in Chicago, and American cities more generally? What were the policies that had the greatest effect on infectious diseases and childhood mortality? Were there local policies that slowed the mortality transition? If the transition to low mortality in American cities was driven by forces largely outside the control of local governments (higher per capita incomes or increases in the amount and quality of calories available to urban dwellers from rising agricultural productivity), then expensive public health projects, such as the construction of public water and sewer systems, probably should have taken a back seat to broader national policies to promote overall economic growth.  The introduction of pure water explains between 30 and 50 percent of Chicago%u2019s mortality decline, and that other interventions, such as the introduction of the diphtheria antitoxin and milk inspection had much smaller effects.  These findings have important implications for current policy debates and economic development strategies"--National Bureau of Economic Research web site.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references.
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Mode of access: World Wide Web.