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XX>XY?: The Changing Female Advantage in Life Expectancy

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  • Claudia Goldin
  • Adriana Lleras-Muney

Abstract

Females live longer than males in most parts of the world today. Among OECD nations in recent years, the difference in life expectancy at birth is around four to six years (seven in Japan). But have women always lived so much longer than men? They have not. We ask when and why the female advantage emerged. We show that reductions in maternal mortality and fertility are not the reasons. Rather, we argue that the sharp reduction in infectious disease in the early twentieth century played a role. The primary reason is that those who survive most infectious diseases carry a health burden that affects organs, such as the heart, as well as impacting general well-being. We use new data from Massachusetts containing information on causes of death from 1887 to show that infectious diseases disproportionately affected females between the ages of 5 and 25. Both males and females lived longer as the burden of infectious disease fell, but women were more greatly impacted. Our explanation does not tell us why women live longer than men, but it does help understand the timing of their relative increase.

Suggested Citation

  • Claudia Goldin & Adriana Lleras-Muney, 2018. "XX>XY?: The Changing Female Advantage in Life Expectancy," NBER Working Papers 24716, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
  • Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:24716
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    2. Batinti, Alberto & Costa-Font, Joan, 2022. "Does democracy make taller men? Cross-country European evidence," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 113745, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    3. Batinti, Alberto & Costa-Font, Joan, 2022. "Does democracy make taller men? Cross-country European evidence," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 45(C).
    4. Costa, Dora L. & Yetter, Noelle & DeSomer, Heather, 2020. "Wartime health shocks and the postwar socioeconomic status and mortality of union army veterans and their children," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 70(C).
    5. Dobis, Elizabeth A. & Stephens, Heather M. & Skidmore, Mark & Goetz, Stephan J., 2020. "Explaining the spatial variation in American life expectancy," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 246(C).
    6. Dora Costa & CoraLee Lewis & Noelle Yetter, 2022. "Children and Grandchildren of Union Army Veterans: New Data Collections to Study the Persistence of Longevity and Socioeconomic Status Across Generations," NBER Working Papers 30747, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    7. Gregori Galofre-Vila & Maria Gomez-Leon, 2021. "Provincial health inequalities in Spain since 1860," Documentos de Trabajo - Lan Gaiak Departamento de Economía - Universidad Pública de Navarra 2103, Departamento de Economía - Universidad Pública de Navarra.
    8. Aksan, Anna-Maria & Chakraborty, Shankha, 2023. "Life expectancy across countries: Convergence, divergence and fluctuations," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 168(C).
    9. Rajan Bhardwaj & Solmaz Amiri & Dedra Buchwald & Ofer Amram, 2020. "Environmental Correlates of Reaching a Centenarian Age: Analysis of 144,665 Deaths in Washington State for 2011−2015," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 17(8), pages 1-13, April.
    10. Galofré Vilà, Gregori, 2020. "Quantifying the impact of aid to dependent children: An epidemiological framework⁎," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 77(C).
    11. Adriana Lleras-Muney & Joseph Price & Dahai Yue, 2020. "The Association Between Educational Attainment and Longevity using Individual Level Data from the 1940 Census," NBER Working Papers 27514, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    12. Lleras-Muney, Adriana & Price, Joseph & Yue, Dahai, 2022. "The association between educational attainment and longevity using individual-level data from the 1940 census," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 84(C).
    13. Dora Costa & Noelle Yetter & Heather DeSomer, 2019. "Wartime Health Shocks and the Postwar Socioeconomic Status and Mortality of Union Army Veterans and their Children," NBER Working Papers 25480, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    14. Ana María Iregui-Bohórquez & Ligia Alba Melo-Becerra & María Teresa Ramírez-Giraldo & Ana María Tribín-Uribe, 2020. "The path to gender equality in Colombia: Are we there yet?," Borradores de Economia 1131, Banco de la Republica de Colombia.

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    JEL classification:

    • J1 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics
    • J16 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Economics of Gender; Non-labor Discrimination
    • N0 - Economic History - - General

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