Reexamining the Contribution of Public Health -Efforts to the Decline in Urban Mortality

Using data on 25 major American cities for the period -1900-1940, we explore the effects of -municipal-level public health efforts that were viewed as critical in the fight against foodborne and -waterborne -diseases. In addition to studying interventions such as treating sewage and setting bacteriological standards for milk, which have received little attention, we provide new evidence on the effects of water -filtration and chlorination, extending the work of previous -scholars. Although water filtration is associated with an 11-12 percent -reduction in infant mortality, none of the other interventions under study appear to have contributed to the observed mortality declines.