Living standards and rural-urban height gap during the early stages of modern economic growth in Spain

José Martínez-Carrión (), Pedro M. Pérez-Castroviejo, Javier Puche-Gil and Josep M. Ramon-Muñoz

Documentos de Trabajo de la Sociedad de Estudios de Historia Agraria from Sociedad de Estudios de Historia Agraria

Abstract: This paper examines the urban-rural differences of the height during the early stages of modern economic growth and industrialization in Spain. Its aim is to explore the extent of the urban penalty, and the changes of biological welfare in the cities and villages, in the rural and urban areas. We use height data of military recruitment records between 1857 and 1936, that provide information on the health and net nutrition of cohorts 1837-1915. We note that previous studies reported higher penalty in rural areas than in cities, and that the height deteriorated in the most industrialized cities due to unhealthy environments, child labor and spread of infections. The new data shows that in some rural areas had better nutritional status that in urban areas with better care resources, so the rural-urban gap was more diverse than we thought, not only by environmental factors but institutions. Data suggests more research on height by social classes in the diverse Spanish geography.

Keywords: Rural-Urban Gap; Height; Biological Well-being; Living Standard; Spanish industrialization (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: D63 I12 I31 N33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 39 pages
Date: 2014-10
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-gro, nep-hap, nep-his and nep-ure
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