Mortality Decline and Economic Growth in Industrialized Countries

Ryan D. Edwards, Stanford University
Shripad Tuljapurkar, Stanford University

The fundamental question of growth theory in economics is why some countries are rich and others poor. Similarly, when demographers characterize current trends or project into the future, they must ask why some human populations are long-lived and others are not. The causes of universal, continuous mortality decline in industrialized countries over the past 50 years are numerous and difficult to quantify. Substantial heterogeneity in the speed and variability of mortality decline across political boundaries suggests that socioeconomic factors and institutions are important in explaining increases in human longevity, as do recent research efforts that uncover evidence of convergence across countries to ``best-practices'' mortality. This paper investigates the sources of differential mortality decline among industrialized nations over the past 50 years, identifying income inequality and capital investment gradients as key elements.