Net Nutrition and the Transition from 19th Century Bound to Free-Labor: Assessing Dietary Change with Differences-in-Decompositions

Scott Alan Carson
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Scott Alan Carson: University of Texas, Permian Basin and CESifo

JODE - Journal of Demographic Economics, 2018, vol. 84, issue 4, 447-475

Abstract: Average stature reflects cumulative net nutrition and health during economic development. This study introduces a difference-in-decompositions approach to show that although 19th century African-American cumulative net nutrition was comparable to working class whites, it was made worse-off with the transition to free-labor. Average stature reflects net nutrition over the life-course, and adult blacks born under bound-labor had greater age related statures loss than blacks under free-labor. Agricultural worker's net nutrition was better than workers in other occupations and was better-off under free-labor and industrialization. Within-group stature variation was greater than across-group variation, and white within-group stature variation associated with socioeconomic status was greater than African-Americans.

Keywords: Stature variation; Cumulative net nutrition; Oxaca decomposition (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: C1 C4 D1 I1 N3 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2018-12-01
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (6)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:ctl:louvde:v:84:y:2018:i:4:p:447-475

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