Year: 1995
Type: report
Abstract: IntroductionEconomists and historians have long been intrigued by the connection between health and economic growth.Because health is an input to economic growth, long-run increases in living standards may be sped by the improving health of a population.People in better health are able to increase their productivity and output.At the same time, economic growth enables people to purchase the nutrition, sanitation, shelter, and medical care that are so necessary to health.Economic growth is not always benign, however.Industrialization was generally associated with increased urbanization, crowded factories and tenements, and the pacing of workers by machines.Economic growth might therefore lead to a deterioration in health.Examining the interrelationship between industrialization and health will help us understand how adverse effects associated with economic growth can be mitigated.Establishing the secular trend in health and understanding its causes is also important for understanding the present.The past is still with us both because older generations are still with us and because physiological processes have an intergenerational reach.The oldest generation alive today was born when life expectancy at birth was only 50 years.A growing body of evidence indicates Dora L.
DOI: 10.3386/h0076
Authors: Dora Costa, Richard Steckel
Language: English
Subfield: Economics and Econometrics
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
Awards: G2057478450, G497604274
OpenAlex ID: W2044299016