Growth and maturity: A quantitative systematic review and network analysis in anthropometric history

Galofré-Vilà, Gregori

doi:10.1016/j.ehb.2017.12.003

Cited by 23 publications

(10 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…In recent decades, anthropometric measurements have become consolidated in the field of social science as alternative or complementary indicators to the classic indicators for analysing the different aspects of human well-being. Specifically, adult height is a widely accepted proxy of the nutritional health and biological standard of living of populations and economic history studies in particular have incorporated this dimension of human well-being in their contemplation of living conditions of past populations and their underlying factors (e.g., income, diet, physical effort or the burden of disease) (Steckel 1995;Fogel 2004;Deaton 2007;Bozzoli et al 2009;Komlos and Kelly 2016;Galofré-Vilà 2018). These factors affect the growth cycle in a cumulative manner from pre-natal life to adulthood as they condition the degree to which the genetically established anthropometric potential of each individual is reached (Bogin 2001;Silventoinen 2003).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Height and Inequality in Spain: A Long-Term Perspective

Cámara¹,

Martínez-Carrión

Puche

et al. 2019

RHE / JILAEH

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This article analyses the evolution of nutritional inequality in Spain among cohorts born between 1840 and 1964. With male height data (N = 358,253), the secular trend of biological well-being and intergenerational anthropometric inequalities are studied based on the coefficient of variation, height percentiles and socioeconomic categories (students, literate non-students and illiterate). The results reveal that the nutritional inequalities were very large in the mid-19th century. Anthropometric inequalities diminished among those born between 1880 and 1919 and increased again, although only moderately, from the cohorts of the 1920s. From the 1930s there was a cycle of sustained increase in height. Despite nutritional improvement, the data suggest that nutritional inequalities increased during the Franco regime, affecting the low-income population segments particularly.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Height and Inequality in Spain: A Long-Term Perspective

Cámara¹,

Martínez-Carrión

Puche

et al. 2019

RHE / JILAEH

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“…After four decades of research in anthropometric history, the use of human stature to measure changes in standards of living and inequality has become widespread among economic historians (Blum, 2013; Galofré-Vilà, 2018). In close collaboration with economists, physical anthropologists and biologists, economic historians have shown that stature and other bodily measures, such as weight, robustness, and corporal mass, have been influenced by environmental and socio-economic determinants over long periods of time and across different geographies.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Inequality and Well-Being in Iberian and Latin American Regions Since 1820. New Approaches From Anthropometric History

Martínez-Carrión

Salvatore

2019

RHE / JILAEH

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“…Finally, over the last 30 years anthropometric historians have studied well-being through changes in heights (for a systematic review of the literature see Galofré-Vilà 2017). Although the main causes of variation in individual height may be genetic, it has long been recognised that variations in the mean heights of different groups of people owe much to economic, social and environmental circumstances.…”

Section: Measuring Wellbeing Over the Very Long-runmentioning

confidence: 99%

Heights across the Last 2,000 Years in England

Galofré-Vilà¹,

Hinde²,

Guntupalli³

2018

Research in Economic History

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This article uses a dataset of heights calculated from the femurs of skeletal remains to explore the development of stature in England across the last two millennia. We find that heights increased during the Roman period and then steadily fell during the 'Dark Ages' in the early medieval period. At the turn of the first millennium heights grew rapidly, but after 1200 they started to decline coinciding with the agricultural depression, the Great Famine and the Black Death. Then they recovered to reach a plateau which they maintained for almost 300 years, before falling on the eve of industrialisation. The data show that average heights in England in the early nineteenth century were comparable to those in Roman times, and that average heights reported between 1400 and 1700 were similar to those of the twentieth century. The article also discusses the association of heights across time with some potential determinants and correlates (real wages, inequality, food supply, climate change and expectation of life), showing that in the long run heights change with these variables, and that in certain periods, notably the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, the associations are observable over the shorter run as well. We also examine potential biases surrounding the use of skeletal remains. Acknowledgements: We should like to thank Susan Wolcott and a reviewer for valuable comments, Jane Humphries, Steve Broadberry and Laura Bonsall, who generously shared data with us, and Bernard Harris, Jane Humphries and John L. Brooke for their helpful comments on previous versions. The usual disclaimer applies.

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Growth and maturity: A quantitative systematic review and network analysis in anthropometric history

Cited by 23 publications

References 53 publications

Height and Inequality in Spain: A Long-Term Perspective

Height and Inequality in Spain: A Long-Term Perspective

Inequality and Well-Being in Iberian and Latin American Regions Since 1820. New Approaches From Anthropometric History

Heights across the Last 2,000 Years in England

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