Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/34822 
Year of Publication: 
2008
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 3652
Publisher: 
Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
Using a rich sample of admission records from New Orleans Touro Infirmary, we examine the in-hospital mortality risk of free and enslaved patients. Despite a higher mortality rate in the general population, slaves were significantly less likely to die in the hospital than the whites. We analyze the determinants of in-hospital mortality at Touro using Oaxaca-type decomposition to aggregate our regression results. After controlling for differences in characteristics and maladies, we find that much of the mortality gap remains unexplained. In conclusion, we propose an alternative explanation for the mortality gap based on the selective hospital admission of slaves.
Subjects: 
Slavery
hospital
Oaxaca-type decomposition
New Orleans
Touro
JEL: 
N31
Persistent Identifier of the first edition: 
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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