Births, Deaths, and New Deal Relief during the Great Depression

Price Fishback, Michael Haines and Shawn Kantor

No 11246, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: 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.

JEL-codes: I38 J11 N32 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2005-04
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-hea and nep-his
Note: DAE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (10)

Published as Fishback, Price V., Michael R. Haines, and Shawn Kantor. "Births, Deaths, and New Deal Relief during the Great Depression." The Review of Economics and Statistics 89,1 (February 2007): 1-14.

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Journal Article: Births, Deaths, and New Deal Relief during the Great Depression (2007)
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