Water Purification Efforts and the Black-White Infant Mortality Gap, 1906-1938

D. Mark Anderson, Kerwin Charles, Daniel Rees and Tianyi Wang

No 2019-075, Working Papers from Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group

Abstract: According to Troesken (2004), efforts to purify municipal water supplies at the turn of the 20th century dramatically improved the relative health of blacks. There is, however, little empirical evidence to support the Troesken hypothesis. Using city-level data published by the U.S. Bureau of the Census for the period 1906-1938, we explore the relationship between water purification efforts and the black-white infant mortality gap. Our results suggest that, while water filtration was effective across the board, adding chlorine to the water supply reduced mortality only among black infants. Specifically, chlorination is associated with an 11 percent reduction in black infant mortality and a 13 percent reduction in the black-white infant mortality gap. We also find that chlorination led to a substantial reduction in the black-white diarrhea mortality gap among children under the age of 2, although this estimate is measured with less precision.

Keywords: municipal water supply; Health; water filtration (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I18 J11 J15 N30 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his and nep-ure
Note: MIP
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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http://humcap.uchicago.edu/RePEc/hka/wpaper/Anders ... on-mortality-gap.pdf First version November 2019 (application/pdf)

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