Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/215179 
Year of Publication: 
2019
Series/Report no.: 
IZA Discussion Papers No. 12783
Publisher: 
Institute of Labor Economics (IZA), Bonn
Abstract: 
According to Troesken (2004), efforts to purify municipal water supplies at the turn of the 20th century dramatically improved the relative health of blacks. There is, however, little empirical evidence to support the Troesken hypothesis. Using city-level data published by the U.S. Bureau of the Census for the period 1906-1938, we explore the relationship between water purification efforts and the black-white infant mortality gap. Our results suggest that, while water filtration was effective across the board, adding chlorine to the water supply reduced mortality only among black infants. Specifically, chlorination is associated with an 11 percent reduction in black infant mortality and a 13 percent reduction in the black-white infant mortality gap. We also find that chlorination led to a substantial reduction in the black-white diarrhea mortality gap among children under the age of 2, although this estimate is measured with less precision.
Subjects: 
infant mortality
public health
black-white infant mortality gap
JEL: 
I18
J11
J15
N3
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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