Standard of Living

This anthology honors the life and work of American economist John E. Murray, whose work on the evolution of the standard of living spanned multiple disciplines. Publishing extensively in the areas of the history of healthcare and health insurance, labor markets, religion, and family-related issues from education to orphanages, fertility, and marriage, Murray was much more than an economic historian and his influence can be felt across the wider scholarly community. Written by Murray's academic collaborators, mentors, and mentees, this collection of essays covers topics such as the effect of the 1918 influenza pandemic on U.S. life insurance holdings, the relationship between rapid economic growth and type 2 diabetes, and the economics of the early church. This volume will be of use to scholars and students interested in economic history, cliometrics, labor economics, and American and European history, as well as the history of religion.

Urbanization, Sanitation, and Mortality in the Progressive Era, 1899-1929.- The Continuing Puzzle of Hypertension among African Americans: Developmental Origins and the Mid-century Socioeconomic Transformation.- Health and Safety vs. Freedom of Contract: The Tortured Path of Wage and Hours Limits Through the State Legislatures and the Courts.- Sickness Experience in England, 1870-1949.- Friendly societies and sickness coverage in the absence of state provision in Spain (1870-1935).- A difficult consensus: the making of the Spanish welfare state.- The Effect of the 1918 Influenza Pandemic on U.S. Life Insurance Holdings.- 'Theft of Oneself': Runaway Servants in Early Maryland-Deterrence, Punishment, and Apprehension.- Adult Guardianship and Local Politics in Rhode Island, 1750-1800.- Later-life realizations of Maryland's mid-nineteenth-century pauper apprentices.- Family Allocation Strategy in the Late Nineteenth Century.- Child Labor and Industrialization in Early Republican Turkey.- Orphans, Widows, and the Economics of the Early Church.- An Economic Approach to Religious Communes: The Shakers.- Religion, Human Capital, and Economic Diversity in 19th Century Hesse-Cassel.- Productivity, Mortality, and Technology in European and US Coal Mining, 1800-1913.- Breathing Apparatus for Mine Rescue in the UK, 1890s - 1920s.- Grain Market Integration in Late Colonial Mexico.- "William McKinley, Optimal Reneging, and the Spanish-American War".- Capitalism and the Good Society: The Original Case for and against Commerce.- Situating Southern Influences in James M. Buchanan and Modern Public Choice Economics.- Index.