Hidden in Plain Sight: Stillbirths and Infanticides in Imperial Japan. (30th August 2016)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Drixler, Fabian F.
• Is Part Of: Journal of economic history. Volume 76:Number 3(2016)
• Page Start: 651
• Page End: 696
• Publication Date: 2016-08-30
• Subjects: Economic history -- Periodicals; 330.9005
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050716000814
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0022-0507

Abstract

Abstract : Around 1900, an extraordinary number of stillbirths appeared in Japan's statistical yearbooks. This article investigates possible biological explanations but concludes that Japan's anomalous stillbirth rates were primarily the result of the deliberate misreporting of infanticides and abortions. On the basis of an international comparison spanning five centuries, it estimates that between 1886 and 1940, Japanese parents filed between 1.7 and 2.8 million false stillbirth reports.