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Upswing in Industrial Activity and Infant Mortality during Late 19th Century US

Author

Listed:
  • Tavassoli, Nahid
  • noghanibehambari, hamid
  • noghani, farzaneh
  • toranji, mostafa

Abstract

This paper aims to assess the effects of industrial pollution on infant mortality between the years 1850-1940 using full count decennial censuses. In this period, US economy experienced a tremendous rise in industrial activity with significant variation among different counties in absorbing manufacturing industries. Since manufacturing industries are shown to be the main source of pollution, we use the share of employment at the county level in this industry to proxy for space-time variation in industrial pollution. Since male embryos are more vulnerable to external stressors like pollution during prenatal development, they will face higher likelihood of fetal death. Therefore, we proxy infant mortality with different measures of gender ratio. We show that the upswing in industrial pollution during late nineteenth century and early twentieth century has led to an increase in infant mortality. The results are consistent and robust across different scenarios, measures for our proxies, and aggregation levels. We find that infants and more specifically male infants had paid the price of pollution during upswing in industrial growth at the dawn of the 20th century. Contemporary datasets are used to verify the validity of the proxies. Some policy implications are discussed.

Suggested Citation

  • Tavassoli, Nahid & noghanibehambari, hamid & noghani, farzaneh & toranji, mostafa, 2020. "Upswing in Industrial Activity and Infant Mortality during Late 19th Century US," MPRA Paper 105093, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised 30 Jun 2020.
    • Handle: RePEc:pra:mprapa:105093
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Janet Currie, 2011. "Inequality at Birth: Some Causes and Consequences," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 101(3), pages 1-22, May.
    2. Nicholas J. Sanders, 2012. "What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Weaker: Prenatal Pollution Exposure and Educational Outcomes," Journal of Human Resources, University of Wisconsin Press, vol. 47(3), pages 826-850.
    3. Kenneth Y. Chay & Michael Greenstone, 2003. "The Impact of Air Pollution on Infant Mortality: Evidence from Geographic Variation in Pollution Shocks Induced by a Recession," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 118(3), pages 1121-1167.
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    7. Kenneth Y. Chay & Michael Greenstone, 2003. "Air Quality, Infant Mortality, and the Clean Air Act of 1970," Working Papers 0406, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Center for Energy and Environmental Policy Research.
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    Cited by:

    1. Kamble, Vaibhav, 2021. "Health Returns to Birth Weight: Evidence from Developing Countries," MPRA Paper 105150, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    2. tavassoli, nahid & noghani, farzaneh & noghanibehambari, hamid, 2022. "Gender Gap in Education as a Portable Cultural Element: Evidence from First and Second Generation Immigrants," MPRA Paper 113514, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    3. Hamid NoghaniBehambari & Farzaneh Noghani & Nahid Tavassoli, 2021. "Early-life Income Shocks and Old-Age Cause-Specific Mortality," Papers 2101.03943, arXiv.org.
    4. Malika Sahel, 2022. "People Exchange: A British Councils Post-Colonial Distinguished Cultural Investment," European Journal of Social Sciences Articles, Revistia Research and Publishing, vol. 5, July -Dec.
    5. Salari, Mahmoud & Javid, Roxana J. & Noghanibehambari, Hamid, 2021. "The nexus between CO2 emissions, energy consumption, and economic growth in the U.S," Economic Analysis and Policy, Elsevier, vol. 69(C), pages 182-194.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Pollution; Infant mortality; Gender ratio; 19th Century; Health;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • K32 - Law and Economics - - Other Substantive Areas of Law - - - Energy, Environmental, Health, and Safety Law
    • Q51 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Valuation of Environmental Effects
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling

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