The Changing Body: Health, Nutrition, and Human Development in the Western World Since 1700 (New Approaches to Economic and Social History). By RoderickFloud, Robert W. Fogel, BernardHarris, and Sok ChulHong. 431 pp. New York: Cambridge University Press (original) (raw)
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2001
This essay places the debate over human welfare during industrialization in the context of very long-term economic developments by examining an important aspect of living standards--health and nutrition--since the Middle Ages. I use average stature determined from military records along with a neglected source, skeletal data. Average heights fell from an average of 173.4 centimeters in the early Middle Ages to a low of 165.8 centimeters during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. This decline of 7.6 centimeters exceeds by a factor of two any downturns found during industrialization in several countries that have been studied. Moreover, recovery to levels achieved in the early Middle Ages was not attained until the early twentieth century. The paper links the decline in average height to climate deterioration; growing inequality; urbanization and the expansion of trade and commerce, which facilitated the spread of diseases; the global spread of diseases associated with European ...
1982
This paper is a progress report on the usefulness of data on physical height for the analysis of long-term changes in the level of nutrition and health on economic, social, and demographic behavior. It is based on a set of samples covering the U.S. and several other nations over the years from 1750 to the present. The preliminary results indicate that native-born Americans reached modern levels of height and nutrition by the time of the American Revolution, but there were long periods of declining nutrition and height during the 19th century. Similar cycling has been established for England. A variety of factors, including crop mix, urbanization, occupation, intensity of labor, and immigration affected the level of height and nutrition, although the relative importance of these factors has changed over time. There is evidence that nutrition affected labor productivity. In one of the samples individuals who were one standard deviation above the mean height (holding weight per inch of height constant) were about 8% more productive than individuals one standard deviation below the mean height. Another finding is that death did not choose people at random. Analysis of data for Trinidad indicates that the annual death rate for the shortest quintile of males was more than twice as great as for the tallest quintile of males.
Global Perspectives on Economics and Biology
2015
This chapter traces global trends in physical stature from the Neolithic Agricultural Revolution to modern times. Major cycles in nutritional status and the biological standard of living can be documented across the course of human history as the amount and quality of nutrition changed. In addition, inequality of living standards increased in the more stratified societies that came into being after the Agricultural Revolution. A second major transformation of living standards began with the Industrial Revolution, putting strain on the biological living standards of many populations, especially when accompanied by population growth, market integration, and rising inequality. A rapid increase in physical stature began in Europe only after the 1870s, about a century after the beginning of modern economic growth. Global studies on height inequality indicate a long-run decline of inequality during the late 19th and early 20th century in Europe. Inequality trends are related to important societal-level outcomes.
Body height as a measure of the standard of living: Europe, America And Asia
Roczniki Dziejów Społecznych i Gospodarczych, 2016
The content outline: Body height refl ects the standard of living in the fi rst 18-20 years of life, while its changes serve as an index measuring the wellbeing of the society. Steady growth of body height in the Polish territory started in the 1860s. The changes recorded in earlier periods were reversible: the highest average was noted in Late Middle Ages, with body height then regressing until mid-19 th century. The evolution of body height in Japan and Korea is a refl ection of genetic and environmental conditions. The Japanese were higher than Koreans in the mid-20 th century, but as the level of economic development of both countries became equal, the height of Koreans surpassed the average height of the Japanese. Even more dramatic infl uence of the environment can be noticed in the comparison of the body height of South and North Koreans over the 20 th century. Zarys treści: Wysokość ciała odzwierciedla poziom życia w pierwszych 18-20 latach życia, a jej zmiany są miernikiem dobrostanu społeczeństwa. Na ziemiach polskich trwały wzrost wysokości ciała rozpoczął się w latach 60. XIX w. Wcześniejsze zmiany były odwracalne: najwyższa średnia przypadła w późnym średniowieczu, po czym do połowy XIX w. miał miejsce regres. Ewolucja wysokości ciała w Japonii i Korei obrazuje uwarunkowania genetyczne i środowiskowe. Japończycy byli wyżsi w połowie XX w., ale po zrównaniu poziomu rozwoju gospodarczego obu krajów, wysokość Koreańczyków przekroczyła średnie japońskie. Jeszcze dramatyczniej wpływ środowiska widać porównując Koreę Południową i Północną na przestrzeni XX w.