The new poor law and the health of the population of England and Wales

2025/07/25 by David Green, Gabriel Geisler Mesevage, Graham Mooney +1 · 1 voice
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Health Professions · Social Sciences · #Historical Economic and Social Studies #Global Health Care Issues #Social Issues and Policies

paper · pdf · doi:10.1111/ehr.70035

Abstract

Abstract We estimate the impact of reductions in poor law expenditure on rural life expectancy and mortality rates in England and Wales following the 1834 Poor Law Amendment Act. Given the scale of cuts imposed, our estimates imply 8–10 per cent increases in mortality at ages 1–4 years and 2–4 per cent falls in rural expectation of life at birth. This is consistent with the reformers’ policy of reducing child allowances for larger families. These results help to explain the weak performance of national mid‐nineteenth century life expectancy measures during a period of rising real wages but falling welfare expenditure.

Discussions

• The impact of the first austerity policy in the 1800s: "From 1740s to 1810s in England, a strong improvement in mortality is evident, followed by 5 decades of stagnation. Only in the 1870s did life ex [bsky, 32 points, 1 comments]

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