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Title: Transportation and Health in a Developing Country: The United States, 1820-1847

Citation Type: Miscellaneous

Publication Year: 2017

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Abstract: I study the impact on health, as measured by average stature, of the development of the transportation network in the rural antebellum United States. Within-county panel analysis and a straight-line instrument, which links major watersheds to one another and to major cities, address endogeneity concerns. I find that market access in a cohort’s birth year had a negative and large impact on its average stature. A 10 percent rise in market access is associated with a decline in average height of 0.15 to 0.35 inches, and the observed increase in market access between 1820 and 1850 explains 26 to 77 percent (depending on the identification strategy) of the antebellum decline in average stature in the rural United States. Evidence also suggests that increases in population density in response to rising market access were a channel for the negative impact of market access on average stature.

Url: http://www.ariellzimran.com/zimran_height_transportation.pdf

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Authors: Zimran, Ariell

Publisher: Vanderbilt University

Data Collections: IPUMS NHGIS

Topics: Health, Other

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