Why are you tall while others are short? Agricultural production and other proximate determinants of global heights

Joerg Baten and Matthias Blum

European Review of Economic History, 2014, vol. 18, issue 2, 144-165

Abstract: We analyze the proximate determinants of the biological standard of living from a global perspective, namely high-quality nutrition and the disease environment during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Until the mid-twentieth century, the local availability of cattle, meat, and milk per capita and the local disease environment mainly determined the stature of the population – and, by implication, how long they lived and how healthy they were. During the late twentieth century, the trade of agricultural products and health-promoting technologies increased in relative importance; hence, the local availabilities became less decisive in explaining height differences.

Date: 2014
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (44)

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:oup:ereveh:v:18:y:2014:i:2:p:144-165.

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