TY  - JOUR
AU  - Ferrie,Joseph P.
TI  - The Poor and the Dead: Socioeconomic Status and Mortality in the U.S., 1850-1860
JF  - National Bureau of Economic Research Historical Working Paper Series
VL  - No. 135
PY  - 2001
Y2  - August 2001
UR  - http://www.nber.org/papers/h0135
L1  - http://www.nber.org/papers/h0135.pdf
N1  - Author contact info:
Joseph P. Ferrie
Department of Economics
Northwestern University
Evanston, IL 60208-2600
Tel: 847/491-8210
Fax: 847/491-7001
E-Mail: ferrie@northwestern.edu
AB  - Despite the significant research on aggregate trends in mortality and physical stature in the middle of the nineteenth century, little evidence on the individual-level characteristics associated with premature mortality has been presented. This essay describes a new project that links individuals from the mortality schedules to the population schedules of the 1850 and 1860 federal population censuses. This makes it possible to assess the link between individual and household characteristics and the probability of dying. The results reveal a strong and negative relationship between household wealth and mortality in 1850 and 1860 and a somewhat weaker negative relationship between occupational status and mortality in 1850. The findings suggest that even when the U.S. population was largely rural and agricultural, changes in the distribution of income and wealth would have had a large impact on mortality rates and life expectancies. Urbanization merely exacerbated already existing disparities in mortality by socioeconomic status.
ER  -