DONDENA Seminar - Maanik Nath

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“Railways and Health in Colonial India” 

SPEAKER: Maanik Nath (London School of Economics)

ABSTRACT: This paper investigates the impact of railway expansion on mortality across British India. We construct a new annual dataset of mortality by disease at the town-level and demonstrate three key findings. First, rail access had an insignificant impact on mortality. Second, increased connectivity from rail intensification had positive and significant effects on cholera and malaria deaths. Third, the areas that were exposed to seasonal malaria reported higher deaths as railway lines multiplied. The paper suggests a ‘U’ curved relationship between market access and disease transmission in poor agrarian economies.

BIO: Maanik Nath is Assistant Professor in Economic History at the London School of Economics. His research investigates the impact of geography, policy and commerce on lives and livelihoods in the past. His work explores Asia, with a particular focus on South Asia, from 1800 to the present day. Maanik’s book, Capital Shortage, co-won the Lindert-Williamson Prize in 2025 and the Economic History Society Book Prize in 2024.