Urban mortality and the repeal of federal prohibition

David Jacks, Krishna Pendakur and Hitoshi Shigeoka

Explorations in Economic History, 2023, vol. 89, issue C

Abstract: Federal prohibition was one of the most ambitious policy interventions in US history. However, the removal of restrictions on alcohol after 1933 was not uniform. Using a new balanced panel on annual deaths, we find that city-level repeal is associated with a 11.6% decrease in the rate of death by non-automobile accidents, a category which critically include accidental poisonings. We relate this finding to a large literature which emphasizes – but never precisely quantifies – the mortality effects of adulterated alcohol during federal prohibition. Thus, repeal likely led to a large annual reduction in accidental poisonings. However, combined with previous results showing even larger increases in infant mortality, repeal nonetheless likely had negative contemporaneous effects on public health.

Keywords: Federal prohibition; Repeal; Urban mortality (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: H73 I18 J1 N3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (2)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Urban Mortality and the Repeal of Federal Prohibition (2020)
Working Paper: Urban Mortality and the Repeal of Federal Prohibition (2020)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:exehis:v:89:y:2023:i:c:s0014498323000232

DOI: 10.1016/j.eeh.2023.101529

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