Smallpox vaccination in 19th-century Finland: lessons from a vaccine mandate
In historical Finland, the vaccination law succeeded in improving smallpox vaccine uptake despite high hesitancy among the public.
Long run differences in mortality rates between Indigenous and white Australians 1788-2000
The persistent lower-life expectancy of Indigenous Australians reflects contemporary social failures and the impact of a violent colonial past.
Medical progress and health inequality: penicillin in Italy
This post argues that the introduction of penicillin in post-war Italy led to lower levels of regional health inequality.
Tea Drinking Curbed Mortality Rates in England
The introduction of tea in 18th century England resulted in an increase in consumption of boiled water, thereby reducing mortality rates.
Socioeconomic Health Inequalities are a Matter of Human Rights
Human rights are an authoritative moral and legal framework that can be used by governments to reduce socioeconomic health inequalities
Epidemic Disease and Indigenous Survival: Research Findings for Colonial Latin America
Post-contact depopulation in the New World resulted from the introduction of epidemic diseases to which Indigenous peoples were defenceless.
Poverty, Pollution, and Mortality: The 1918 Influenza Pandemic in a Developing German Economy
I analyze the health impact of the 1918 “Spanish Flu” in South-West Germany and the harmful effects of poverty and air pollution on mortality.
Seasonality in the Age of Pandemics, 1817-1920
Asia particularly suffered from the cholera, plague and influenza pandemics between 1817 and 1920. This piece highlights the various ways in which ‘seasonality’ mattered in those three pandemics.
The 1918 flu pandemic left Spain a more unequal country
Pandemics are often considered “big levelers” events. We show that the Spanish Flu, one of the deadliest pandemics in history, doesn’t fit this narrative in Spain, which became more unequal.
The virtual eradication of the plague. An unsolved riddle of health progress
Both plague and smallpox used to exert a heavy death toll on society. We eradicated smallpox with a vaccine, but plague disappeared from most of human society for unknown reasons.
