The Escape from Hunger and Premature Death, 1700–2100

Abstract

Nobel laureate Robert Fogel's compelling study, first published in 2004, examines health, nutrition and technology over the last three centuries and beyond. Throughout most of human history, chronic malnutrition has been the norm. During the past three centuries, however, a synergy between improvements in productive technology and in human physiology has enabled humans to more than double their average longevity and to increase their average body size by over 50 per cent. Larger, healthier humans have contributed to the acceleration of economic growth and technological change, resulting in reduced economic inequality, declining hours of work and a corresponding increase in leisure time. Increased longevity has also brought increased demand for health care. Professor Fogel argues that health care should be viewed as the growth industry of the twenty-first century and systems of financing it should be reformed. His book will be essential reading for all those interested in economics, demography, history and health care policy.

Spending to save? State health expenditure and infant mortality in India

“…Analyses of the historical decline in childhood mortality rates in today's industrialised countries suggest that important drivers of this decline were improved nutrition, public health, and medical technological progress (see Fogel 2004, Cutler and Miller 2005, Cutler et al 2006. Improved nutrition tends to be associated with growth in income.…”

The Irish famine of 1740–1741: famine vulnerability and "climate migration"

“…What Sen emphasises in his own case studies (Bengal 1943, Ethiopia 1972-1974and Bangladesh 1974 is that during a famine only certain segments of the population suffer or die from hunger, while others still live in plenty. The concept of food entitlement replaced the idea of food availability as a tool of analysis, also in order to exclude any supposedly deterministic concepts connecting food availability with "natural causes" such as climate fluctuations (Fogel, 1992(Fogel, , 2004.…”

Social inequality and the biological standard of living: An anthropometric analysis of Swiss conscription data, 1875–1950

“…For example, malnutrition is associated with decreased immunity and increased susceptibility to infections (Lunn, 1991;Cole, 2003). Stunted growth has functional implications for longevity, cognitive development, earnings and work capacity (Fogel, 2004). Physical stature is thus a useful supplementary indicator of well-being (not a substitute for conventional monetary indicators), providing a more nuanced, spatially and socially detailed view of the impact of dynamic economic processes on the quality of life than does income or GDP per capita.…”

“…Anthropometry also provides the most widespread method for the assessment of nutritional conditions (WHO Expert Committee, 1995). More specifically, by means of measurements not only of height but also of chest and upperarm circumference, one obtains a snapshot of biological well-being and of demographic behavior -for example, household formation and childbearing -cognitive development, and work capacity (Eveleth and Tanner, 1990;Bogin, 1999), and can thereby identify social groups at risk of functional outcomes in terms of morbidity and mortality (Fogel, 1994(Fogel, , 2004Gorstein et al, 1994;Koch, 2011).…”