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Economic growth
In 1900, Americans spent nearly twice as much on funerals as on medicine, and less than 2 percent of Americans took vacations.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on June 12, 2007 at 06:51 AM in History | Permalink
Comments
tyler -
In 1900 the average life expectancy of a US citizen at birth was less than 48 years. You went to work at 15, worked 30 years or so, then died. Amazingly, the life expectancy of an African American in 1900 was only 33 years!
And one can think of a funeral as the ultimate vacation ...
Posted by: glenn at Jun 12, 2007 8:36:30 AM