Killer Cities: Past and Present
- (pp. 570-75)
Abstract
The industrial cities of the 19th century were incredibly unhealthy places to live. How much progress has been made in reducing these negative health effects over the past 150 years? To help answer this question, we compare mortality patterns in 19th century England to those in Chinese urban areas in 2000. We document that substantial improvements have been made in improving health in cities over this period. Unlike historical English cities, large cities in China have lower mortality than less populated areas. However, we also provide evidence that in China a substantial relationship between industrial pollution and mortality remains.Citation
Hanlon, W. Walker, and Yuan Tian. 2015. "Killer Cities: Past and Present." American Economic Review, 105 (5): 570-75. DOI: 10.1257/aer.p20151071Additional Materials
JEL Classification
- I12 Health Behavior
- N30 Economic History: Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy: General, International, or Comparative
- N90 Regional and Urban History: General
- P25 Socialist Systems and Transitional Economies: Urban, Rural, and Regional Economics
- P36 Socialist Institutions and Their Transitions: Consumer Economics; Health; Education and Training: Welfare, Income, Wealth, and Poverty
- Q53 Air Pollution; Water Pollution; Noise; Hazardous Waste; Solid Waste; Recycling
- R23 Urban, Rural, Regional, Real Estate, and Transportation Economics: Regional Migration; Regional Labor Markets; Population; Neighborhood Characteristics