The role of mortality in the transmission of knowledge

we investigate, both theoretically and quantitatively, a previously unexplored link between gains in adult mortality and productivity growth. our mechanism allocates a central role to individuals as carriers of useful ideas and to personal contact as an important means of transferring these ideas. it thus implies that disrupting a human life impedes the process of knowledge transmission across time. we derive a simple and intuitive form of the dependence of aggregate knowledge transfer on adult mortality and incorporate it into a model of endogenous growth. we then quantitatively examine the relevance of the proposed link in application to the long-run growth experience of england. our calibration exercise suggests that the reduction in adult mortality, by improving knowledge transmission across time and encouraging more innovation, was a quantitatively important force behind the takeoff in output per capita.