Income Effects on Health: Evidence from Union Army Pensions. (4th June 2015)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Eli, Shari
• Is Part Of: Journal of economic history. Volume 75:Number 2(2015)
• Page Start: 448
• Page End: 478
• Publication Date: 2015-06-04
• Subjects: Economic history -- Periodicals; 330.9005
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050715000674
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-0507

Abstract

Abstract : To what extent do rising income levels explain the decline in adult mortality rates experienced in the United States a century ago? I explore this question by investigating the income effect of the country's first wide-scale entitlement program: the Union Army pensions. Documenting that Republican Congressional candidates boosted pensions to secure votes, I exploit exogenous increases in income stemming from patronage politics to estimate the semi-elasticity of disease onset with respect to pensions. Income effects are large for cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, and respiratory illnesses.