Events

Past Event

CPRC Seminar Series with Professor Trevon Logan

December 8, 2020
4:00 PM - 5:00 PM
America/New_York
School of Social Work, 1255 Amsterdam Ave., New York, NY 10027

We estimate racial differences in longevity using records from cohorts of Union Army veterans. Since veterans received pensions based on proof of disability at medical exams, estimates of the causal effect of income on mortality may be biased, as sicker veterans received larger pensions.  To circumvent endogeneity bias, we propose an exogenous source of variation in pension income: the judgment of the doctors who certified disability. We find that doctors appeared to discriminate against black veterans. The discrimination we observe is acute---we would not observe any racial mortality differences had physicians not been racially biased in determining pension awards. The effect of income on health was indeed large enough to close the black-white mortality gap in the period. Our work emphasizes that the large effects of physicians' attitudes on racial differentials in health, which persist today amongst both veterans and the civilian population, were equally prominent in the past. 

Co-authors: Shari Eli and Boriana Miloucheva, University of Toronto


Presenter Biography

Dr. Trevon D. Logan graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Economics from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. He went on to receive two master’s degrees demography and economics and his doctoral degree in Economics from the University of California, Berkeley. Dr. Logan is an internationally recognized scholar in economic demography, economic history and applied microeconomics. He current research focuses on historical health patterns, racial discrimination, political economy, mortality, morbidity, and racial disparities in health. His award-winning research has been featured in the Wall Street Journal, Washington Post, the Economist, NBC, Bloomberg, CNN, and other major media outlets.

Contact Information

CPRC