Working Paper: NBER ID: w28563
Authors: Brian Beach
Abstract: Between 1900 and 1930 typhoid fever and other waterborne diseases were largely eradicated from U.S. cities. This achievement required a mix of technological, scientific, economic, and bureaucratic innovations. This article examines how the interaction of those forces influenced water and sanitary infrastructure provision during the 19th and early 20th centuries. I show the sharp link between infrastructure investments and declines in waterborne disease and discuss how that relationship informs the methodological approaches one should use to assess the impact of sanitary investments on urban development. Finally, I review the literature on the social returns to eliminating the threat of waterborne disease. The evidence suggests the benefits of infrastructure investment far exceeded the costs.
Keywords: Water Infrastructure; Public Health; Typhoid Fever; Urban Development
JEL Codes: I00
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| infrastructure investments (H54) | decline of waterborne diseases (I12) |
| decline of waterborne diseases (I12) | decline of typhoid fever deaths (I19) |
| water quality (Q25) | decline of typhoid death rates (I14) |
| infrastructure investments (H54) | improvement in water quality (Q25) |