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Development and History

Development and Economic History

Members of the Development and Economic History Research Group combine archival data, lab-in-the-field experiments, randomized controlled trials, text analysis, survey and secondary data along with theoretical tools to study issues in development and economic history. Faculty and students work in the field in South Asia, China and Africa as well as doing archival work in libraries across Europe and Asia.

Almost all faculty are members of CAGE in the economics department and some are also members of Warwick Interdisciplinary Centre for International Development (WICID). There is a regular weekly external seminar, two weekly internal workshops, and high quality research students. We also organise international conferences on campus, or in Venice.

Our activities

Development and Economic History Research Group Workshop/Seminar

Monday: 1.00-2.00pm
For faculty and PhD students at Warwick and other top-level academic institutions across the world. For a detailed scheduled of speakers please follow the link below.
Organisers: Bishnupriya Gupta and Claudia Rei

People

Academics

Academics associated with the Development and Economic History Research Group are:


Bishnupriya Gupta

Co-ordinator

Anant Sudarshan

Deputy Co-ordinator


Events

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Economic History Seminar - Casper Hansen (U.Copenhagen)

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Location: S2.79

Title: Medical Technology and Life Expectancy: Evidence from the Antitoxin Treatment of Diphtheria

Abstract: In this paper, we explore the impact of the first effective medical treatment for an infectious disease---diphtheria antitoxin---on the historical health transition. In 1895, the Massachusetts State Board of Health began providing free supplies of the antitoxin for medical use throughout the state. This policy has later been recognized as a significant event in the public-health history of Massachusetts. We use cross-municipality variation in pre-antitoxin diphtheria mortality rates and the availability of free antitoxin since 1895 to create an instrumental variable for local adoption rates, as measured by the number of antitoxin bottles per capita. By analyzing approximately 1.6 million death certificates from 1880 to 1914, we find that a hypothetical 10-year delay in the development of antitoxin would have reduced life expectancy at birth by one year, primarily due to reductions in child mortality. Our results suggest that medicine played a significant role in the increase of life expectancy in the early 20th century. Finally, we provide evidence suggesting that antitoxin treatment during the first 9 years increased school attendance but did not affect adult labor-market outcomes.

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