Working Paper: NBER ID: w24943
Authors: Ariell Zimran
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.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: I15; N31; N71; O18
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| greater transportation linkage (L91) | average stature (I14) |
| increased market access (F69) | greater population density (R23) |
| greater population density (R23) | epidemiological environment (I12) |
| increased market access (F69) | average stature (I14) |