We find that veterans of the Union Army who faced greater wartime stress (as measured by higher battlefield mortality rates) experienced higher mortality rates at older ages, but that men who were from more cohesive companies were statistically significantly less likely to be affected by wartime...

We present evidence showing that the course of economic growth and of health, as measured by stature, Body Mass Index (BMI), mortality rates, or the prevalence of chronic conditions, diverged in the nineteenth century and converged in the twentieth. To analyze the change in welfare resulting...

When the Fair Labor Standards Act was first implemented, a 5% reduction in the length of the standard workweek reduced by at least 18% the proportion of men and women working more than 40 hours per week. This analysis, based on monthly time series data from 1935-41 BLS surveys and...

Improving early prenatal and postnatal conditions account for at least 16% to 17% of the decline in ten-year mortality rates of 60-79-year-olds between 1900 and 1960-1980. Historical trends in early prenatal and postnatal conditions imply that while the baby-boom cohort may be particularly...