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Asian-American Deaths Near the Harvest Moon Festival

From the Department of Economics, Pomona College, Claremont, CA.

Address correspondence and reprint requests to Gary Smith, PhD, Department of Economics, Pomona College, Claremont, CA 91711. E-mail: gsmith{at}pomona.edu

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Reexamine the claim that elderly Chinese-American women are able to prolong their lives until after the celebration of the Harvest Moon Festival.

METHODS: See if independent 1985 to 2000 data for Chinese-, Korean-, and Vietnamese-Americans replicate results that were reported using 1960 to 1984 data for Chinese-Americans.

RESULTS: The original 1960 to 1984 data do not support the death-postponement theory unless deaths that occur on the festival day are classified as having occurred after the festival. The new data do not support the theory, no matter how deaths on the festival day are classified.

CONCLUSIONS: These data do not support the hypothesis that elderly Chinese-, Korean-, or Vietnamese-American women are able to prolong their lives until after the celebration of the Harvest Moon Festival.

Key Words: death postponement, • mortality dip, • Harvest Moon Festival.

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