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We examine the impact of the free supply of diphtheria antitoxin, the first effective
medical treatment for an infectious disease, on the historical health transition in Massachusetts.
Using newly collected municipality-level data on the distribution of antitoxin
and information from over 1.5 million death certificates from 1880 to 1914, we find
that the rapid availability of antitoxin treatment significantly increased life expectancy
at young ages. Our findings suggest that medicine, combined with an effective public
health policy, played a more important role in improving life expectancy in the early
20th century than previously thought.
