THE ENGINE AND THE REAPER: INDUSTRIALIZATION AND MORTALITY IN EARLY MODERN JAPAN

John Tang

No DP15-10, RCESR Discussion Paper Series from Research Center for Economic and Social Risks, Institute of Economic Research, Hitotsubashi University

Abstract: Economic development leads to improved health over time due to increased access to medical treatment, sanitation, and income, but in the short run the relationship may be negative given disease exposure from market integration. Using a panel dataset of vital statistics for late nineteenth century Japan, I find mortality rates increased during the country's early industrialization period and that railroad access accounts for over five percent of average mortality. Estimates from a triple-differences framework indicate that communicable disease mortality accounts for 91 percent of the additional incidence, which suggests that improved transport may have operated as a vector for transmission.

Keywords: disease contagion; market integration; mortality Kuznets curve; railroad transport (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J11 N75 O14 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 42 pages
Date: 2015-11
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gro, nep-his and nep-lab
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Downloads: (external link)
https://hermes-ir.lib.hit-u.ac.jp/hermes/ir/re/27566/dp15-10.pdf

Related works:
Journal Article: THE ENGINE AND THE REAPER: INDUSTRIALIZATION AND MORTALITY IN LATE NINETEENTH CENTURY JAPAN (2017)
Working Paper: The Engine and the Reaper: Industrialization and Mortality in Early Modern Japan (2016)
Working Paper: The engine and the reaper: The impact of industrialisation on mortality in early modern Japan (2016)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hit:rcesrs:dp15-10

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