Working Paper: NBER ID: w10035
Authors: Chulhee Lee
Abstract: This study explores how the health of Union Army recruits while in the service affected their wealth accumulation through 1870. Wartime wounds and exposure to combat, measured by the company mortality from wounds, had strong negative effects on subsequent savings. Variables on illnesses while in service, if corrected for the potential bias arising from omitted variables by using instrumental variables, also greatly diminished wealth accumulations. The economic impact of poor health was particularly strong for unskilled workers. These results suggest that health was a powerful determinant of economic mobility in the nineteenth century. The strong influences on wealth accumulations of various infectious diseases, such as malaria, typhoid, and diarrhea, found in this study point out that the economic gains from the improvement of the disease environment should be enormous. This study also suggests that the direct economic costs of the Civil War were probably much greater than previously thought, if the persistent adverse effects of wartime experiences on veterans' health are considered.
Keywords: Health; Wealth Accumulation; Civil War; Economic Mobility; Infectious Diseases
JEL Codes: N3; I1
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| company mortality from wounds (I12) | health experiences of recruits (I19) |
| wartime wounds and exposure to combat (H56) | wealth accumulation (E21) |
| illnesses while in service (I19) | wealth accumulation (E21) |
| health (I19) | economic mobility (J62) |
| wartime experiences (H56) | wealth accumulation (E21) |