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Build Better Health: Evidence from Ireland on Housing Quality and Mortality

Author

Listed:
  • Alan de Bromhead

    (Department of Economics, University College Dublin)

  • Ronan C. Lyons

    (Department of Economics, Trinity College Dublin)

  • Johann Ohler

    (London School of Economics and Political Science)

Abstract

Poor housing conditions, and the negative effects of Household Air Pollution (HAP) in particular, remain one of the most pressing global public health challenges. While the association between poor housing and health has a long history, evidence of a direct link is lacking. In this paper, we examine a rare example of a public housing intervention in rural areas, namely the large-scale provision of high-quality housing in Ireland in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. We exploit a novel dataset of deaths-by-disease and deaths-by-age-and-sex over the period 1871-1919, to test the impact of the intervention on mortality. Our difference-in difference estimates indicate that improved housing conditions reduced mortality by as much as 1 death per 1000. This effect is driven by reductions in deaths from respiratory diseases. We propose a likely mechanism that is consistent with the pattern of results we observe: a reduction in Household Air Pollution through improved housing quality and better ventilation. A cost-benefit analysis reveals that the scheme was a highly cost-effective intervention.

Suggested Citation

  • Alan de Bromhead & Ronan C. Lyons & Johann Ohler, 2025. "Build Better Health: Evidence from Ireland on Housing Quality and Mortality," Trinity Economics Papers tep1525, Trinity College Dublin, Department of Economics.
    • Handle: RePEc:tcd:tcduee:tep1525
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    File URL: https://www.tcd.ie/Economics/TEP/2025/TEP1525.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. de Bromhead, Alan & Lyons, Ronan C., 2023. "Social housing and the spread of population: Evidence from twentieth century Ireland," Journal of Urban Economics, Elsevier, vol. 138(C).
    2. Clay, Karen & Lewis, Joshua & Severnini, Edson, 2018. "Pollution, Infectious Disease, and Mortality: Evidence from the 1918 Spanish Influenza Pandemic," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 78(4), pages 1179-1209, December.
    3. Fredrik N G Andersson & Jason Lennard, 2019. "Irish GDP between the Famine and the First World War: estimates based on a dynamic factor model," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 23(1), pages 50-71.
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    11. McLaughlin, Eoin & Whelehan, Niall, 2024. "Rethinking the geography of distress in nineteenth-century Ireland: Excess mortality and the Land War," QUCEH Working Paper Series 24-02, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
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    Keywords

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    JEL classification:

    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N93 - Economic History - - Regional and Urban History - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • Q53 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
    • O18 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Urban, Rural, Regional, and Transportation Analysis; Housing; Infrastructure
    • I14 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Inequality
    • J10 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - General

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