XX > XY?: The changing female advantage in life expectancy

Claudia Goldin and Adriana Lleras-Muney

Journal of Health Economics, 2019, vol. 67, issue C

Abstract: Females live a lot longer than males in most parts of the world today. But that was not always the case. We ask when and why the female advantage emerged. We show that reductions in maternal mortality and fertility are only partial reasons. Rather, the sharp reduction in infectious disease in the early twentieth century played a role. Those who survive most infectious diseases carry a health burden that affects organs and impacts general well-being. We use newly collected data from Massachusetts containing information on cause of death since 1887 to show that females between the ages of 5 and 25 were disproportionately affected by infectious diseases. Both males and females lived longer as the burden of infectious disease fell, but women were more greatly impacted. Our explanation does not tell us precisely why women live longer than men, but it does help understand the timing of their relative increase.

Keywords: Life expectancy; Maternal mortality; Infectious disease (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J1 J16 N3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (15)

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Working Paper: XX>XY?: The Changing Female Advantage in Life Expectancy (2018)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:jhecon:v:67:y:2019:i:c:s0167629618310026

DOI: 10.1016/j.jhealeco.2019.102224

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