How hungry were the poor in late 1930s Britain?† (original) (raw)

Nutrition in Interwar Britain: A Possible Resolution of the Healthy or Hungry 1930s Debate?

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2018

Any opinions expressed in this paper are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but IZA takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. The IZA Institute of Labor Economics is an independent economic research institute that conducts research in labor economics and offers evidence-based policy advice on labor market issues. Supported by the Deutsche Post Foundation, IZA runs the world's largest network of economists, whose research aims to provide answers to the global labor market challenges of our time. Our key objective is to build bridges between academic research, policymakers and society. IZA Discussion Papers often represent preliminary work and are circulated to encourage discussion. Citation of such a paper should account for its provisional character. A revised version may be available directly from the author.

The Transformation of Hunger Revisited: Estimating Available Calories from the Budgets of Late Nineteenth-Century British Households

The Journal of Economic History, 2015

Levels of nutrition among British worker's households in the late nineteenth century have been much debated. Trevon Logan (2006, 2009) estimated a very low average level of available calories. This paper re-examines the data and finds average levels of available calories much more in line with existing studies, more in line with what is known about energy requirements, and more in line with other aspects of the data. In sum, British households were likely to have been significantly better fed than Logan reports.

Escaping from hunger before WW1: the nutritional transition and living standards in Western Europe and USA in the late nineteenth century

Cliometrica

Using the US Commissioner of Labor household survey, we estimate calories available to workers’ households in USA, Belgium, Britain, France and Germany in 1888/90. We make raw comparisons of the data and utilise propensity score matching techniques to attempt to overcome differences between the nature of the country samples included in the original survey. We find that US households had on average 500 daily calories per capita more than French and Germans households, with the Belgians and British households closer to the USA. We ask if US workers had more energy for work, once likely differences in stature between national sub-samples are taken into account, and conclude it was a minor advantage. Finally, we ask if economic migration leads to taller children. We find that US-based British households were able to provide more calories than those in Britain in response to an additional child, so that, other things being equal, their children would grow taller.

Escaping from Hunger Before WW1: Nutrition and Living Standards in Western Europe and USA in the Late Nineteenth Century

SSRN Electronic Journal, 2017

of LaborUrban Working-Class Food Consumption and Nutrition in Britain in 1904

2012

Any opinions expressed here are those of the author(s) and not those of IZA. Research published in this series may include views on policy, but the institute itself takes no institutional policy positions. The IZA research network is committed to the IZA Guiding Principles of Research Integrity. The Institute for the Study of Labor (IZA) in Bonn is a local and virtual international research center and a place of communication between science, politics and business. IZA is an independent nonprofit organization supported by Deutsche Post Foundation. The center is associated with the University of Bonn and offers a stimulating research environment through its international network, workshops and conferences, data service, project support, research visits and doctoral program. IZA engages in (i) original and internationally competitive research in all fields of labor economics, (ii) development of policy concepts, and (iii) dissemination of research results and concepts to the intereste...

From Eating by Necessity to Rather do Without: Food Habits, Social Classes and Wartime Food Situation in Britain.

Based on Mass Observation Archives material, in particular wartime diaries and surveys written between 1939 and 1945, this paper demonstrates how the social class membership of the participants influenced their approach to food during wartime restrictions. Through the testimony of some civilians of the British Home Front, it demonstrates that, in contrast with what could be believed, the necessity of eating can find its limit in social class prejudice or tastes, even in difficult time. Some civilians ‘preferred to do without’ rather than eat food they disregarded, while others ‘had to do without’ because of the necessity to favour more essential commodities. The study of such behaviours opens the door to another approach of food and the notion of identity. Eating habits are cultural and the social class background has a great influence on diet choice and food preferences. The wartime food situation and the reaction of some of its witnesses facing the restrictions or disappearance of their usual commodities are a case study of the relationship between social class, self-identity and food consumption, or rejection. In other words, from that specific perspective it could be said ‘Tell me what you don’t eat, and I’ll tell you who you are’.

The British Nutrition Transition and Its Histories

referred to "the white flour, the refined sugar, the processed fats and frozen meat, the cheap imported staples that have given Britain the worst dietary heritage in Europe." 1 This diet was not, Offer suggested, a consequence of British indifference or bad taste. Instead, it was a product of Britain's unique economic trajectory, a result of precocious industrialization, rapid urbanization, expansive empire and conscious outsourcing of food production. The modern British diet, Offer suggested, was inseparable from wider themes in British history: empire, political economy, and war.

Nutrition and poverty : the case of lone-parent households in the U.K

1996

This thesis examines the relationship between nutrition and poverty through a British case study, drawing on historical material and recent national and international experience of the policy agenda for nutrition. It has two main objectives. First, to investigate nutritional conditions in low income households in contemporary Britain by means of a survey in a group known to be poor, namely lone-parent families. The survey addressed whether there is evidence of nutritional deprivation, and, if so, who suffers it, and to what extent it is attributable to poverty, rather than lack of motivation or skills. Secondly, to contribute to contemporary debate about poverty and potential policy responses, particularly where food is concerned. A random cross-sectional survey of 200 lone-parent households in Greater London was carried out. Nutrition data were obtained from individual 3-day food intake records, for each parent and at least one of their children, and from a food frequency questionn...

How hungry were the poor in late 1930s Britain?† (original) (raw)

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