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Killer Cities and Industrious Cities? New Data and Evidence on 250 Years of Urban Growth

Author

Listed:
  • Remi Jedwab

    (George Washington University)

  • Marina Gindelsky

    (Bureau of Economic Analysis)

Abstract

In the historical literature, cities of the Industrial Revolution are portrayed as having a demographic penalty: killer cities with high death rates and industrious cities with low birth rates. To econometrically test this, we construct a novel data set of almost 2,000 crude demographic rates for 142 large cities in 35 countries for 1700-1950. Mortality actually decreased faster than fertility during the Industrial Revolution era and rates of natural increase rose in the cities of industrializing countries, especially large cities. This implies a declining, not rising, demographic penalty thanks to the Industrial Revolution. To explain the puzzle, we posit that negative health and industriousness effects of industrial urbanization might have been outweighed by positive effects of increased income and life expectancy.

Suggested Citation

  • Remi Jedwab & Marina Gindelsky, 2022. "Killer Cities and Industrious Cities? New Data and Evidence on 250 Years of Urban Growth," Working Papers 2022-01, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.
    • Handle: RePEc:gwi:wpaper:2022-01
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    Cited by:

    1. Remi Jedwab & Noel D. Johnson & Mark Koyama, 2020. "Medieval Cities Through the Lens of Urban Economic Theories," Working Papers 2020-9, The George Washington University, Institute for International Economic Policy.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Urban Demographic Penalty; Killer Cities; Industrious Cities; Mortality; Fertility; Natural Increase; Industrial Revolution; Urban Growth;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N90 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • N30 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • N10 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • R00 - Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics - - General - - - General
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General

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