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Title: Transportation and Health in the Antebellum United States 1820-1847

Citation Type: Working Paper

Publication Year: 2018

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Abstract: I study the impact of transportation on health in the rural US, 1820–1847. Measuring health by average stature, I find that greater transportation linkage, as measured by market access, in a cohort’s county-year of birth had an adverse impact on its health. A one-standard deviation increase in market access reduced average stature by 0.14 inches, and rising market access over the study period can explain 37 percent of the contemporaneous decline in average stature, known as the Antebellum Puzzle. I find evidence that transportation affected health by increasing population density, leading to a worse epidemiological environment.

Url: https://www.nber.org/papers/w24943.pdf

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Authors: Zimran, Ariell

Series Title: NBER Working Paper

Publication Number: 24943

Institution: NBER

Pages:

Publisher Location:

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Health, Other

Countries: United States