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  • 2021
  • Working Paper
  • HBS Working Paper Series

Status and Mortality: Is There a Whitehall Effect in the United States?

By: Tom Nicholas
  • Format:Print
  • | Language:English
  • | Pages:53
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Abstract

The influential Whitehall studies found top-ranking civil servants in Britain experienced lower mortality than civil servants below them in the organizational hierarchy. I test for a Whitehall effect in the lifespan of a 1930 cohort of white collar employees at a leading American firm— General Electric. All had access to a corporate health and welfare program during a critical period associated with the health transition in the United States. I measure status using position in the managerial hierarchy, attendance at prestigious management training camps, and promotions, none of which is associated with a Whitehall-like rank-mortality gradient. Instead, senior managers and executives experienced a mortality penalty of around 3 to 5 years relative to those lower in the hierarchy. I discuss generalizability and potential explanations for this reversal of the Whitehall phenomenon using additional data on the status and lifespan of top business executives and US senators.

Keywords

Mortality; Status; Socioeconomic Determinants Of Health; Employees; Status and Position; Health

Citation

Nicholas, Tom. "Status and Mortality: Is There a Whitehall Effect in the United States?" Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-074, January 2020. (Revised June 2022.)
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About The Author

Tom Nicholas

Entrepreneurial Management
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  • Human Capital and the Managerial Revolution in the United States By: Tom Nicholas
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