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The Economic Impact of Disease in the American South, 1860–1940

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Garland L. Brinkley
Garland L. Brinkley
Affiliation:
University of the Pacific
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Extract

Few economic historians have addressed the impact of poor health on economic productivity.1 This relationship, neglected and poorly understood, is the subject of my dissertation. Specifically, the dissertation examines the effect of a chronic debilitating disease on agricultural productivity in the American South between 1860 and 1940. As is well known, per capita gross agricultural output dropped sharply during the Civil War decade and remained low until 1910. Contrary to what one would expect, between 1870 and 1910 agricultural output was lowest in sandy soil regions and highest in regions composed mostly of clay soil. A rapid expansion of per capita agricultural output occurred after 1910. The income decline of the Civil War decade and subsequent increase of the post-1910 era were also related to soil region, with the greatest income swing occurring in sandy soil regions.

Type
Summaries of Doctoral Dissertations
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 55 , Issue 2 , June 1995 , pp. 371 - 373
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1995

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References

1 This dissertation was completed at the University of California, Davis, under the direction of Gregory Clark, Peter H. Linden, and Alan L. Olmstead.

2 See Crompton, D. W. T. and Stephenson, L. S., “Hookworm Infection, Nutritional Status and Productivity, ” in Shad, G. A. and Warren, K. S., eds., Hookworm Disease: Current Status and New Directions (New York, 1990)Google Scholar; and Holland, Celia, “Hookworm Infection, ” in Stephenson, Lani S., ed., Impact of Helminth Infections on Human Nutrition, (New York, 1987).Google Scholar

3 See Augustine, D. L. and Smillie, W. G., “The Relation of the Types of Soils of Alabama to the Distribution of Hookworm Disease, ” American Journal of Hygiene (1926, 6, Suppl. no. 1), pp. 36–62.Google Scholar See also Kerr, J. A. and Rickard, E. R., “The Incidence and Intensity of Hookworm Infection in the Various Soil Provinces of Tennessee, ” Journal of Preventive Medicine (1926, 1), pp. 185–203.Google Scholar