Working Paper: NBER ID: w17322
Authors: Robert W. Fogel; Louis Cain; Joseph Burton; Brian Bettenhausen
Abstract: Making use of those Union Army veterans for whom death certificates are available, we compare the conditions with which they were diagnosed by Civil War pension surgeons to the causes of death on the certificates. We divide the data between those veterans who entered the pension system early because of war injuries and those who entered the pension system after the 1890 reform that made it available to many more veterans. We examine the correlation between specific conditions and death causes to gauge support for the hypothesis that death is attributable to something specific. We also examine the correlation between the accumulation of rated conditions to time until death to gauge support for the "insult hypothesis." In general, we find support for both hypotheses. Examining the hazard ratios for dying of a specific condition, there is support for the idea that what ail'd ya' is what kill'd ya'.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: I1; N11
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| chronic conditions (I12) | causes of death (I12) |
| accumulation of rated conditions (C62) | mortality risk (J17) |
| rated condition (R50) | hazard of dying from specific condition (I12) |
| presence of other rated conditions (C62) | hazard of dying from gastrointestinal conditions (I12) |
| injured veterans (H56) | likelihood of dying from infectious diseases (I12) |