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Public Health Efforts and the Decline in Urban Mortality: Reply to Cutler and Miller

Author

Listed:
  • Anderson, D. Mark

    (Montana State University)

  • Charles, Kerwin Kofi

    (Yale University)

  • Rees, Daniel I.

    (Universidad Carlos III de Madrid)

Abstract

This is a rejoinder to a comment written by Cutler and Miller on our recent paper, "Public Health Efforts and the Decline in Urban Mortality" (IZA DP No. 11773), which reanalyzes data used by Cutler and Miller to investigate the determinants of the urban mortality decline from 1900 to 1936. Two main results emerge from our reanalysis of their data: (1) correcting infant mortality counts reduces the estimated effect of filtration on infant mortality by two-thirds, from -43 log points to -13 log points; and (2) using a consistent method of the calculating the total mortality rate shrinks the estimated effect of filtration on total mortality by half, from -16 log points to -8 log points. In this rejoinder, we argue that the much-reduced estimate of the effect of water filtration on infant mortality is a dramatic and surprising departure from the consensus view in the literature. In addition, we show that the estimated effect of water filtration on total mortality is extremely fragile. Evidence of this fragility may also be found in recent work by Catillon, Cutler and Getzen (2018).

Suggested Citation

  • Anderson, D. Mark & Charles, Kerwin Kofi & Rees, Daniel I., 2019. "Public Health Efforts and the Decline in Urban Mortality: Reply to Cutler and Miller," IZA Discussion Papers 12077, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp12077
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Anderson, D. Mark & Charles, Kerwin Kofi & Rees, Daniel I., 2018. "Public Health Efforts and the Decline in Urban Mortality," IZA Discussion Papers 11773, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    2. Marcella Alsan & Claudia Goldin, 2019. "Watersheds in Child Mortality: The Role of Effective Water and Sewerage Infrastructure, 1880–1920," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 127(2), pages 586-638.
    3. Dora L. Costa, 2015. "Health and the Economy in the United States from 1750 to the Present," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(3), pages 503-570, September.
    4. Michael Kremer, 2007. "What Works in Fighting Diarrheal Diseases in Developing Countries? A Critical Review," NBER Working Papers 12987, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    5. David Cutler & Grant Miller, 2005. "The role of public health improvements in health advances: The twentieth-century United States," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 42(1), pages 1-22, February.
    6. Wolf, J.H., 2003. "Low Breastfeeding Rates and Public Health in the United States," American Journal of Public Health, American Public Health Association, vol. 93(12), pages 2000-2010.
    7. Ferrie, Joseph P. & Troesken, Werner, 2008. "Water and Chicago's mortality transition, 1850-1925," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 45(1), pages 1-16, January.
    8. Maryaline Catillon & David Cutler & Thomas Getzen, 2018. "Two Hundred Years of Health and Medical Care: The Importance of Medical Care for Life Expectancy Gains," NBER Working Papers 25330, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    9. D. Mark Anderson & Kerwin Kofi Charles & Daniel I. Rees, 2018. "Public Health Efforts and the Decline in Urban Mortality," NBER Working Papers 25027, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
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    Cited by:

    1. Anderson, D. Mark & Rees, Daniel I. & Wang, Tianyi, 2020. "The phenomenon of summer diarrhea and its waning, 1910-1930⁎," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 78(C).
    2. 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.
    3. Philipp Ager & James J. Feigenbaum & Casper Worm Hansen & Hui Ren Tan, 2020. "How the Other Half Died: Immigration and Mortality in US Cities," NBER Working Papers 27480, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    4. 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).
    5. 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.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    pasteurization; filtration; chlorination; mortality; public health; sewage;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • I18 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Government Policy; Regulation; Public Health

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