Temperature, Disease, and Death in London: Analyzing Weekly Data for the Century from 1866-1965

W Hanlon, Casper Hansen and Jake W. Kantor

No 27333, NBER Working Papers from National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc

Abstract: Using weekly mortality data for London spanning 1866-1965, we analyze the changing relationship between temperature and mortality as the city developed. Our results show that both warm and cold weeks were associated with elevated mortality in the late 19th-century, but heat effects, due mainly to infant deaths from digestive diseases, largely disappeared after WWI. The resulting change in the temperature-mortality relationship meant that thousands of heat-related deaths–equal to 0.8-1.3 percent of all deaths–were averted. Our findings also indicate that a series of hot years in the 1890s substantially changed the timing of the infant mortality decline in London.

JEL-codes: I15 N3 Q54 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2020-06
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-env, nep-gro, nep-hea and nep-his
Note: DAE
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Published as Hanlon, W. Walker & Hansen, Casper Worm & Kantor, Jake, 2021. "Temperature, Disease, and Death in London: Analyzing Weekly Data for the Century from 1866 to 1965," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 81(1), pages 40-80, March.

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Journal Article: Temperature, Disease, and Death in London: Analyzing Weekly Data for the Century from 1866 to 1965 (2021)
Working Paper: Temperature, Disease, and Death in London: Analyzing Weekly Data for the Century from 1866-1965 (2020)
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