Health Impacts of Public Pawnshops in Industrializing Tokyo

This study is the first to investigate whether financial institutions for low-income populations have contributed to the historical decline in mortality rates. Using ward-level panel data from prewar Tokyo City, we found that public pawn loans were associated with reductions in infant and fetal death rates, potentially through improved nutrition and hygiene measures. Simple calculations suggest that popularizing public pawnshops led to a 6% and 8% decrease in infant mortality and fetal death rates, respectively, from 1927 to 1935. Contrarily, private pawnshops showed no significant association with health improvements. Our findings enrich the expanding literature on demographics and financial histories.