http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/09/29/great.dep...

"Life expectancy during the peak years of the Great Depression increased 6.2 years -- from 57.1 years in 1929 to 63.3 years in 1933 -- according to University of Michigan researchers Jose A. Tapia Granados and Ana Diez Roux. The increase applied to men and women, whites and non-whites."

Well, consider the report that the Spanish Flu of 1918 DECRESED longevity by a decade....

http://virus.stanford.edu/uda/index.html

"The effect of the influenza epidemic was so severe that the average life span in the US was depressed by 10 years. "

I WOULD WANT SOME ACTUARIAL GENIUS TO LOOK AT THE FIGURES AND DECIDE WHETHER THE SECOND CLAIM IS BASED ON THE HEELS OF THE FIRST, OR WHETHER BOTH START FROM SOME "NEUTRAL" BASELINE.

I THINK IT'S FAR MORE LIKELY THAT IN FACT ANY GAINS MADE IN THE DEPRESSION RESULTED FROM THE SPANISH INFLUENZA PASSING THROUGH AND OUT....IF YOU WILL PARDON THE CRUDE INNUENDO.