European Tribune - Community, Politics & Progress.

The recession is good for our health!

by Jerome a Paris
Tue Sep 29th, 2009 at 08:16:38 AM EST

Life and death during the Great Depression
Population health did not decline and indeed generally improved during the 4 years of the Great Depression, 1930–1933, with mortality decreasing for almost all ages, and life expectancy increasing by several years in males, females, whites, and nonwhites.
(...)
The evolution of population health during the years 1920–1940 confirms the counterintuitive hypothesis that, as in other historical periods and market economies, population health tends to evolve better during recessions than in expansions.

Yet another reason to re-think "growth."

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The recession is good for our health! | 14 comments (14 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

Re: The recession is good for our health! (none / 1)

Too much fat is bad for you.

by Torres on Tue Sep 29th, 2009 at 09:24:47 AM EST

Re: The recession is good for our health! (4.00 / 2)

Not just fat also animal protein. I have been interested in nutrition for a long time now and one of the topics that comes up again and again that "under"nourishment NOT "mal"nourishment are better for your health and is often considered one of the prime aspects for growing old healthy.

One of the best books I read on this topic is the The China Study - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The China Study (ISBN 1-932100-38-5) is a 2005 book by T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D., and his son, Thomas M. Campbell II. Dr. Campbell is a professor of Nutritional Biochemistry at Cornell University^[1] and one of the directors of the China Project^[1].

He divides illnesses into two groups: Diseases of Poverty which include the likes of pneumonia, tuberculosis, parasitic diseases, etc. On the other there are the Diseases of Affluence, which includes various forms of cancer, diabetes, and heart diseases. Further in the book he also describes MS, Osteoporosis and others as having the same source as the other diseases of affluence. I find it an interesting approach and it seems to work for many.

In the book he refers also to studies by other scientists.

I can only recommend this book to anyone who is interested in healthy eating. It is an eye opener and frustrating as most of this knowledge, which has been shown in various scientific studies seems to have been around for quite a while but mainly ingnored or in some cases suppressed. I know sounds like a CT, but he was part of the comitees that had to fix "healthy" values for nutrition and experienced some of that stuff first hand.

by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Sep 29th, 2009 at 09:53:48 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The recession is good for our health! (4.00 / 3)

British Nutrition Foundation

During the Second World War (1939-1945) the British government introduced food rationing to make sure that everyone received their fair share of the limited food which was available. Food rationing started in 1940 and finally ended in 1954. To start with only a few foods were rationed, but more foods were included as the years passed. The rations of food varies throughout the war and additional allowances were given to certain groups. Each person was given a ration book.
A 'point' scheme was introduced for unrationed foods. Each person was allocated a number of points and a selected range of foods was given a point value. The consumer could choose how to spend these points.
Many people were better fed during wartime food rationing than before the war years. Infant mortality rates declined, and the average age at which people died from natural causes increased.

My Bold

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Tue Sep 29th, 2009 at 10:35:27 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The recession is good for our health! (4.00 / 3)

Many people were better fed during wartime food rationing than before the war years.

Wartime food rations as a social safety net...

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Sep 29th, 2009 at 10:40:43 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The recession is good for our health! (none / 1)

My aunt tells stories of east-London in the early fifties, when she was a trainee nurse, of kids coming into hospital who had never eaten beef, didn't know what it was when given beef stew for dinner.

by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Tue Sep 29th, 2009 at 11:06:05 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The recession is good for our health! (none / 1)

I certainly had beef as a child, but orange juice was rationed at about 5 dl per family per week. As I recall, that was a tablespoon a week for me ;-)

You can't be me, I'm taken

by Sven Triloqvist on Tue Sep 29th, 2009 at 11:09:36 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The recession is good for our health! (none / 1)

But they got free milk at school every day, something that Thatcher claimed the UK couldn't afford in the 1970's even though the UK was wealthier.

En un viejo país ineficiente, algo así como España entre dos guerras civiles, poseer una casa y poca hacienda y memoria ninguna. -- Gil de Biedma

by Migeru (migeru at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Sep 29th, 2009 at 11:22:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The recession is good for our health! (4.00 / 3)

I am not sure if I have to take your quote as a confirmation or not of what I wrote.

I would say their health improved because they were not mal-nourished anymore but not because they ate more. Is that what you also mean?

Malnourishment is when nutrients are missing, not necessarily calories. I believe that you can be malnourisched and obese at the same time.

by Fran (fran at eurotrib dot com) on Tue Sep 29th, 2009 at 10:42:15 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The recession is good for our health! (4.00 / 4)

Yes, the general population had a better balance of nutrients, the poor increased their protein and mineral intake, and the rich generally decreased their fat intake, so both prospered. you are right that it is possible to be obese and malnourished at the same time.

If you're not part of the solution, you're part of the precipitate.

by ceebs (ceebs (at) eurotrib (dot) com) on Tue Sep 29th, 2009 at 10:46:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The recession is good for our health! (none / 1)

I would love to see what datasets of work-related injury and death by year (1930-1933), by sex, by occupation, and by state, the authors collected. Considering there was no census in 1933.

1930

But the PNAS paper costs $10.00. That's bus fare.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Sep 29th, 2009 at 10:35:13 AM EST

Re: The recession is good for our health! (4.00 / 4)

I hasten to add that 1933 was a watershed year for change in US government-funded social services and industry regulation of labor relations. And the effects of federal restructure of economic activity and "population" outcomes by 1940 cannot be weighted too heavily in short- to long-term analyses of recession benefits.

In contrast, the last decade of growth and catastrophe:

China's "cancer villages" bear witness to economic boom | Reuters | 16 Sep 2009

Cancer casts a shadow over the villages in this region of China in southern Guangdong province, nestled among farmland contaminated by heavy metals used to make batteries, computer parts and other electronics devices.
Every year, an estimated 460,000 people die prematurely in China due to exposure to air and water pollution, according to a 2007 World Bank study.
Yun Yaoshun's two granddaughters died at the ages of 12 and 18, succumbing to kidney and stomach cancer even though these types of cancers rarely affect children. The World Health Organization has suggested that the high rate of such digestive cancers are due to the ingestion of polluted water....
The villagers use well water in Shangba for drinking but tests published by BioMed Central in July show that it contains excessive amounts of cadmium, a heavy metal that is a known carcinogen, as well as zinc which in large quantities can damage the liver and lead to cancer.
"China has many 'cancer villages' and it is very likely that these increased cases of cancer are due to water pollution," said Edward Chan, an official with Greenpeace in southern China. But it's not just water, the carcinogenic heavy metals are also entering the food chain....
The most common cancers are those of the stomach, liver, kidney and colon, accounting for about 85 percent of cancers. Cancer incidence rates in these villages are not available, but rights groups say they are far higher than the national average.
"In southern China, where communities depend largely from ponds or lakes for drinking water, the rates of digestive system cancer are very high," said a report 'Environment and People's Health in China', published by the World Health Organization and United Nations Development Programme in 2001....
This may be the fate of more and more of China's population as mines and factories spew out tens of millions of tonnes of pollution every year, into the water system as well as the air, to produce the fruits of China's economic growth.
Death rates from cancer rose 19 percent in cities and 23 percent in rural areas in 2006, compared to 2005, according to official Chinese media, although they did not give exact figures.
The health burden has an economic price. The cost of cancer treatment has reached almost 100 billion yuan a year ($14.6 billion), accounting for 20 percent of China's medical expenditure, according to Chinese media.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Sep 29th, 2009 at 11:21:15 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The recession is good for our health! (none / 1)

I've always had a feeling that rampant pollution had as much to do with the Soviet Union's decline as anything else. I'm willing to speculate that China may suffer the same fate.
It's like watching a 40 year old continuing to smoke 2 packs of cigarettes a day. They might live for decades more, but the painful decline and fall is inevitable.
"Growth for growth's sake is the ideology of the cancer cell" ~ Ed Abbey was even more ironic than he thought.

¤¤¤ It is good to live in a time of great depravity, for one may earn a reputation for virtue at little cost. ~ Montaigne ¤¤¤

by Andhakari (andhakari at yahoo dot com) on Wed Sep 30th, 2009 at 01:24:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The recession is good for our health! (none / 1)

I vaguely remember rampant pollution being one of the important factors behind Glasnost. As I remember it, the central command got so lousy reports (every bureacrat covering themselves) that they had to check western sources for USSRs environmental problems, while those were becoming obvious.

Wikipedia does not mention pollution, but supports the notion of getting information in to the center.

Glasnost - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

While "glasnost" is associated with freedom of speech, the main goal of this policy was to make the country's management transparent and open to debate, thus circumventing the narrow circle of apparatchiks who previously exercised complete control of the economy. Through reviewing the past or current mistakes being made, it was hoped that the Soviet people would back reforms such as perestroika.

A vote for PES is a vote for EPP! A vote for EPP is a vote for PES! Support the coalition, vote EPP-PES in 2009!

by A swedish kind of death on Wed Sep 30th, 2009 at 06:47:27 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: The recession is good for our health! (none / 1)

And since no one asked for a link, images above are excerpts of Vol. 2. General report. Statistics by subjects. Washington, D.C.: GPO, 1933. vi, 1407 p., (labor survey, 1931 release), 15th US Census

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
THURSDAY, MARCH 28, 2002:
National Archives Opens 1930 Census Records to the Public
In 1930, when life expectancy in the United States was less than 60 years, compared to 77 now, census enumerators gathered information across America during the dawn of the Great Depression. Those time capsules of records, collected 72 years ago, will be released by the National Archives on April 1....
In order to protect the confidentiality of individual census records,the Census Bureau and the National Archives withheld the release of these records to the public until 72 years after the census in which they were collected [92 Stat. 915, Public Law 95-416; October 5, 1978]. The original 1930 documents were destroyed long ago, but not before their photographic images were transferred to rolls of microfilm in 1944 and 1945 and kept in locked vaults at the National Archives.

The 16th US Census is here.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Oct 1st, 2009 at 07:42:55 AM EST
[ Parent ]

The recession is good for our health! | 14 comments (14 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)

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