摘要：This paper explores how the cross-national determinants of infant mortality and life expectancy at birth have evolved over the past two decades. In particular, I examine the relative roles of female education and per capital income in the mortality decline. Contrasting the recent shift away from economic determinism by a large bloc in the literature, my findings indicate that per capita income has become a stronger determinant of mortality, while the revealed effect of female education has declined. Part, but not all, of the observed shift can be attributed to the HIV/AIDS epidemic. This change may imply a shift back to the Malthusian paradigm, in which economic constraints are the prime forces at work behind the course of mortality.
