CORE--DATA EXTENSION

National Bureau Of Economic Research, Cambridge MA

Investigators

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Abstract

Description (provided by applicant): The completion of a public use sample, which now includes the life histories of 35,570 Union Army recruits, with almost 15,000 variables on each recruit, is the main accomplishment of this program project to date. Although this sample will be an invaluable tool for researchers for years to come, it can be enhanced by adding to it groups underrepresented in the original data sample and taking advantage of other data sources that have yet to be fully exploited. To accomplish this, six new samples will be added to the main Union Army sample. These new samples include adding 3,755 recruits that were excluded from the original Union Army sample for reasons of cost; adding 6,000 black recruits; adding a sample from ILAS (intergenerationally linked aging sample); linking all recruits to the 1880 U.S. census; adding 10,000 men rejected for service in the Union Army; and creating a public health sample. By adding the 3,755 missing recruits and the 6,000 black recruits, the Union Army sample will be increased by over 25 percent, which will help to increase the cell size and give more robust results in some analyses. These new samples will also allow for generalizations to be made about the entire Northern population, rather than just white males who served in the Union Army. They will also make it possible to consider more fully ethnic and racial similarities and differences in morbidity, mortality, retirement, income and labor force participation. They also extend the range of biomedical and socioeconomic factors that can be taken into account in studying interactions over the life cycle in the process of aging. For example, by comparing the experience of men who served in the Union Army with those who did not, it will be possible to examine the effects of wartime stress on later morbidity and mortality. It will also be possible to examine the effect of early environmental factors, such as growing up in an unhealthy disease environment or exposure to lead-based water supply systems, on morbidity and mortality.