Late Growth and Maturity Patterns at the turn of the 20th-Century Corrèze

Stéphane Gauthier ()
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Stéphane Gauthier: PSE - Paris School of Economics - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris, PJSE - Paris Jourdan Sciences Economiques - UP1 - Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne - ENS-PSL - École normale supérieure - Paris - PSL - Université Paris Sciences et Lettres - EHESS - École des hautes études en sciences sociales - CNRS - Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique - INRAE - Institut National de Recherche pour l’Agriculture, l’Alimentation et l’Environnement - ENPC - École nationale des ponts et chaussées - IP Paris - Institut Polytechnique de Paris

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Abstract: The height of conscripts around the age of 20 is widely used as a proxy for well-being in historical periods, under the assumption that it reflects nutritional and health conditions during growth years. This approach may be problematic if individuals are not yet fully grown at conscription age. This paper addresses this concern by constructing an individual-level panel of 2,916 men born in 1887 in Corrèze, using two nineteenth-century French conscription records. The data show that, for most men, height increases by only 0.3 to 0.4 cm in the year following their 20th birthday. However, the subset of the 20% of men identified as the most physically vulnerable continues to exhibit significant growth, gaining an additional 1.5 cm before reaching adult height around age 27. These findings suggest that relying on height at age 20, rather than adult stature, can lead to underestimation of available resources and an overstatement of inequality in their distribution.

Date: 2025
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Published in Population, inPress

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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hal:journl:halshs-05162744

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