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Race, Disease, And The Provision Of Water In American Cities, 1889–1921

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  • Troesken, Werner

Abstract

This article tests the claim that public water companies provided black communities with better service than did private water companies. It draws from three sources: typhoid fever rates in 1911 and 1921, waterborne disease rates in 14 North Carolina towns between 1889 and 1908, and investment patterns in cities with public and private water companies. A study of New Orleans, which municipalized its water system in 1908, complements the evidence that public ownership reduced white disease rates only slightly, but reduced black disease rates sharply. These surprising results have implications for contemporary policy debates and for understanding American history.

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  • Troesken, Werner, 2001. "Race, Disease, And The Provision Of Water In American Cities, 1889–1921," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 61(3), pages 750-776, September.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:61:y:2001:i:03:p:750-776_03
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    Cited by:

    1. Nicola Tynan & Brian Beach & Werner Troesken, 2016. "Who should own and control urban water systems? Disease and the municipalisation of private waterworks in nineteenth-century England," Working Papers 16006, Economic History Society.
    2. Brian Beach & Werner Troesken & Nicola Tynan, 2016. "Who Should Own and Control Urban Water Systems? Historical Evidence from England and Wales," NBER Working Papers 22553, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    3. Bel, Germà, 2020. "Public versus private water delivery, remunicipalization and water tariffs," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 62(C).
    4. D. Mark Anderson & Kerwin Kofi Charles & Claudio Las Heras Olivares & Daniel I. Rees, 2019. "Was the First Public Health Campaign Successful?," American Economic Journal: Applied Economics, American Economic Association, vol. 11(2), pages 143-175, April.
    5. Hoehn-Velasco, Lauren, 2018. "Explaining declines in US rural mortality, 1910–1933: The role of county health departments," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 70(C), pages 42-72.
    6. Werner Troesken, 2010. "Competition and Corruption: Lessons from 150 Years of Industrial Governance," Working Paper 426, Department of Economics, University of Pittsburgh, revised Jan 2010.
    7. Anderson, D. Mark & Charles, Kerwin Kofi & Rees, Daniel I. & Wang, Tianyi, 2021. "Water purification efforts and the black‐white infant mortality gap, 1906–1938," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 122(C).
    8. Watson, Tara, 2006. "Public health investments and the infant mortality gap: Evidence from federal sanitation interventions on U.S. Indian reservations," Journal of Public Economics, Elsevier, vol. 90(8-9), pages 1537-1560, September.
    9. D. Mark Anderson & Kerwin Kofi Charles & Claudio Las Heras Olivares & Daniel I. Rees, 2017. "Was The First Public Health Campaign Successful? The Tuberculosis Movement and Its Effect on Mortality," NBER Working Papers 23219, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    10. Gamper-Rabindran, Shanti & Khan, Shakeeb & Timmins, Christopher, 2010. "The impact of piped water provision on infant mortality in Brazil: A quantile panel data approach," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 92(2), pages 188-200, July.
    11. Werner Troesken, 2006. "Regime Change and Corruption. A History of Public Utility Regulation," NBER Chapters, in: Corruption and Reform: Lessons from America's Economic History, pages 259-281, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Howard Bodenhorn, 2017. "Finance and Growth: Household Savings, Public Investment, and Public Health in Late Nineteenth-Century New Jersey," NBER Working Papers 23430, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    13. D. Mark Anderson & Kerwin Kofi Charles & Daniel I. Rees & Tianyi Wang, 2019. "Water Purification Efforts and the Black-White Infant Mortality Gap, 1906-1938," NBER Working Papers 26489, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Anderson, D. Mark & Rees, Daniel I. & Wang, Tianyi, 2019. "The Phenomenon of Summer Diarrhea and Its Waning, 1910-1930," IZA Discussion Papers 12232, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    15. Anderson, D. Mark & Charles, Kerwin Kofi & Rees, Daniel I. & Wang, Tianyi, 2019. "Water Purification Efforts and the Black-White Infant Mortality Gap, 1906-1938," IZA Discussion Papers 12783, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    16. Anderson, D. Mark & Charles, Kerwin Kofi & Las Heras Olivares, Claudio & Rees, Daniel I., 2017. "Was the First Public Health Campaign Successful? The Tuberculosis Movement and its Effect on Mortality," IZA Discussion Papers 10590, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    17. Lauren Hoehn‐Velasco & Elizabeth Wrigley‐Field, 2022. "City health departments, public health expenditures, and urban mortality over 1910–1940," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 60(2), pages 929-953, April.
    18. Kota Ogasawara & Shinichiro Shirota & Genya Kobayashi, 2018. "Public health improvements and mortality in interwar Tokyo: a Bayesian disease mapping approach," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 12(1), pages 1-31, January.
    19. Tara Watson, 2005. "Public Health Investments and the Infant Mortality Gap: Evidence from Federal Sanitation Interventions on U.S. Indian Reservations," Department of Economics Working Papers 2005-02, Department of Economics, Williams College.
    20. D. Mark Anderson & Daniel I. Rees & Tianyi Wang, 2019. "The Phenomenon of Summer Diarrhea and its Waning, 1910-1930," NBER Working Papers 25689, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    21. D. Mark Anderson & Kerwin Kofi Charles & Daniel I. Rees & Tianyi Wang, 2019. "Water Purification Efforts and the Black-White Infant Mortality Gap, 1906-1938," Working Papers 2019-075, Human Capital and Economic Opportunity Working Group.

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