If you want to find out more you can read the WP here: lse.ac.uk/asset-librar... via @lseechist.bsky.social

This was an early, large-scale experiment in how the built environment shapes public health. The program delivered large health gains for modest public spending. The lesson is clear: investing in housing quality can be an efficient public health interventions.

Using detailed mortality data (by disease, age, and sex), we find:
- Cottage building causally reduced overall mortality by ~6.5%
- Biggest reductions came from diseases of the respiratory tract (e.g. bronchitis).
- Mechanism: lower HAP via better ventilation and cleaner air.

Our study examines one of the earliest large-scale rural housing programs (Ireland, 1871–1919). Thousands of modern cottages - solid, ventilated, and smoke-free - replaced rundown, damp, and smoke filled dwellings.

The link between household air pollution (HAP) and health has been in the news recently — yet long-run causal evidence is rare:

www.theguardian.com/environment/...

www.theguardian.com/environment/...