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Race and Older Age Mortality: Evidence from Union Army Veterans

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Author Info
Dora L. Costa

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Abstract

This paper uses the records of the Union Army to compare the older age mortality experience of the first black and white cohorts who reached middle and late ages in the twentieth century. Blacks faced a greater risk of death from all causes, especially in large cities, from infectious and parasitic diseases, from genito-urinary disease, and from heart disease, particularly valvular heart disease. Blacks' greater risk of death was the result both of the worse conditions in which they lived at the time of their deaths and of their lifelong poorer nutritional status and higher incidence of infectious disease. Compared to the 1821-40 black cohort, the 1841-50 black cohort was both under greater stress at a young age and had higher older age mortality rates.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 10902.

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Date of creation: Nov 2004
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:10902

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
J15 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Minorities and Races; Non-labor Discrimination
N31 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Income, and Wealth - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913

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Please report citation or reference errors to , or , if you are the registered author of the cited work, log in to your RePEc Author Service profile, click on "citations" and make appropriate adjustments.:
  1. Komlos, John & Coclanis, Peter, 1997. "On the Puzzling Cycle in the Biological Standard of Living: The Case of Antebellum Georgia," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 34(4), pages 433-459, October. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  2. Rose, Jerome C., 1989. "Biological Consequences of Segregation and Economic Deprivation: A Post-Slavery Population from Southwest Arkansas," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 49(02), pages 351-360, June. [Downloadable!]
  3. Hoyt Bleakley, 2007. "Disease and Development: Evidence from Hookworm Eradication in the American South," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, MIT Press, vol. 122(1), pages 73-117, 02. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  4. Michael R. Haines, 2002. "Ethnic Differences in Demographic Behavior in the United States: Has There Been Convergence?," NBER Working Papers 9042, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  5. Dora L. Costa, 1998. "Understanding the Twentieth Century Decline in Chronic Conditions Among Older Men," NBER Working Papers 6859, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  6. Steckel, Richard H., 1986. "A Peculiar Population: The Nutrition, Health, and Mortality of American Slaves from Childhood to Maturity," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 46(03), pages 721-741, September. [Downloadable!]
  7. Smith, James P, 1986. "Race and Human Capital: Reply," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 76(5), pages 1225-29, December. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
  8. Costa, Dora L., 2003. "Understanding mid-life and older age mortality declines: evidence from Union Army veterans," Journal of Econometrics, Elsevier, vol. 112(1), pages 175-192, January. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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  9. Robert W. Fogel, 1986. "Nutrition and the Decline in Mortality since 1700: Some Preliminary Findings," NBER Chapters, in: Long-Term Factors in American Economic Growth, pages 439-556 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
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  10. Costa, Dora L., 2004. "The Measure of Man and Older Age Mortality: Evidence from the Gould Sample," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 64(01), pages 1-23, March. [Downloadable!]
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  11. Dora L. Costa & Joanna Lahey, 2003. "Becoming Oldest-Old: Evidence From Historical U.S. Data," Working Papers, Center for Retirement Research at Boston College 2003-10, Center for Retirement Research. [Downloadable!]
    Other versions:
  12. John Komlos, 1992. "Toward an Anthropometric History of African-Americans: The Case of the Free Blacks in Antebellum Maryland," NBER Chapters, in: Strategic Factors in Nineteenth Century American Economic History: A Volume to Honor Robert W. Fogel, pages 297-329 National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!]
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