Body mass,wealth, and inequality in the 19th century: Joining the debate surrounding equality and health

We explore relationships among BMI variation, wealth, and inequality in the 19th century US. There was an inverse relationship between BMI and average state-level wealth and a small, inverse relationship with wealth inequality. After controlling for wealth and inequality, farmers had greater BMI values than workers in other occupations, and blacks had greater BMI values because of nutritional deprivation in utero.     

Family size,the physical environment,and socioeconomic effects across the stature distribution

A neglected area in historical stature studies is the relationship between stature and family size. Using robust statistics and a large 19th century data set, this study documents a positive relationship between stature and family size across the stature distribution. The relationship between material inequality and health is the subject of considerable debate, and there was a positive relationship between stature and wealth and an inverse relationship between stature and material inequality. After controlling for family size and wealth variables, the paper reports a positive relationship between the physical environment and stature.     

Black and white body mass index values in nineteenth century developing Philadelphia county

This paper demonstrates that although modern BMIs in the US have increased, 19th century BMIs in Philadelphia were lower than elsewhere within Pennsylvania, indicating that urbanization and agricultural commercialization were associated with lower BMIs. After controlling for stature, blacks consistently had greater BMI values than mulattos and whites; therefore, there is no evidence of a 19th century mulatto BMI advantage in the industrializing North. Farmers' BMIs were consistently heavier than those of non-farmers.     

Inequality in the American South: evidence from the nineteenth century missouri state prison

The use of height data to measure living standards is now a well-established method in economic history. Moreover, a number of core findings in the literature are widely agreed upon. There are still some populations, places and times, however, for which anthropometric evidence remains thin. One example is 19th century African-Americans in US border-states. This paper introduces a new data set from the Missouri state prison to track the heights of comparable black and white men born between 1820 and 1904. Modern blacks and whites come to comparable terminal statures when brought to maturity under optimal conditions; however, whites were persistently taller than blacks in the Missouri prison sample by two centimetres. Throughout the 19th century, black and white adult statures remained approximately constant, while black youth stature increased during the antebellum period.     

Ancient-to-modern secular changes in Korean stature

Statural growth in human populations is a sensitive indicator of socio-economic well-being, and improvements in socio-economic status are reflected in secular increases in adult height. In the present study, we investigated the statures of historical Korean societies to show how stature changed over time. Applying Fujii's equation, derived from modern Japanese, to the measurement of femora removed from 15th- to 19th-century Joseon tombs, the average heights of Korean adults during the Joseon dynasty were estimated to be 161.1 ± 5.6 cm and 148.9 ± 4.6 cm for males and females, respectively. Plotting statures for successive historical societies against time revealed that Korean heights remained relatively unchanged through to the end of the 19th century, a pattern that differs from that seen in many Western countries in which stature transiently decreases after the Middle Ages. In contrast, a sharp increase in Korean stature was observed at the beginning of the 20th century, similar to trends seen in other nations (although exact timing varies in different countries). There were no accompanying changes of stature sexual dimorphism. The data reported in this study reflect the unique historical experience of Korea; the relative isolation of Joseon society, the late onset of modernization (at the end of the 19th century), and the later occurrence of industrialization (during the 1960s).     

The height gap in 19th-century America: Net-nutritional advantage of the elite increased at the onset of modern economic growth

We present evidence on the 19th-century trend in the height of male US passport applicants. These men represent a much wealthier segment of contemporary society than found in most stature samples previously analyzed. The height trend among the wealthy is much more robust in comparison to the average population that experienced a decline in stature. The resulting increase in the ‘height gap’—by roughly 1 in. between cohorts born around 1820 and 1860—is in congruence with evidence on rising wealth inequality and the notion of dietary change in antebellum America.     

The Dynamics of Wealth Inequality and the Effect of Income Distribution

The rapid increase of wealth inequality in the past few decades is one of the most disturbing social and economic issues of our time. Studying its origin and underlying mechanisms is essential for policy aiming to control and even reverse this trend. In that context, controlling the distribution of income, using income tax or other macroeconomic policy instruments, is generally perceived as effective for regulating the wealth distribution. We provide a theoretical tool, based on the realistic modeling of wealth inequality dynamics, to describe the effects of personal savings and income distribution on wealth inequality. Our theoretical approach incorporates coupled equations, solved using iterated maps to model the dynamics of wealth and income inequality. Notably, using the appropriate historical parameter values we were able to capture the historical dynamics of wealth inequality in the United States during the course of the 20th century. It is found that the effect of personal savings on wealth inequality is substantial, and its major decrease in the past 30 years can be associated with the current wealth inequality surge. In addition, the effect of increasing income tax, though naturally contributing to lowering income inequality, might contribute to a mild increase in wealth inequality and vice versa. Plausible changes in income tax are found to have an insignificant effect on wealth inequality, in practice. In addition, controlling the income inequality, by progressive taxation, for example, is found to have a very small effect on wealth inequality in the short run. The results imply, therefore, that controlling income inequality is an impractical tool for regulating wealth inequality.     

Research on secular trends in auxology

Current status of research on secular trends in growth and maturation is considered from several perspectives. The need to define secular trends as positive, negative or absent is initially discussed. Positive secular trends, i.e., increases in size and earlier maturation, characterize the majority of the auxological literature. However, some populations have experienced negative secular trends or no trends. Positive secular trends and cessation of secular trends in stature and age at menarche are described for developed countries, followed by a brief discussion of secular changes in body proportions and composition. Data from developing countries illustrate all three types of secular trends. Some segments of the population show positive changes in size and age at menarche, while others show no evidence of secular change or negative secular trends. Finally, comparisons of estimated statures in earlier European populations suggest a negative secular trend, i.e., a decline in estimated stature from about the 11th to the 19th centuries, which is followed by a positive secular trend starting about the mid-19th century.     

Modeling the Origin and Possible Control of the Wealth Inequality Surge

The rapid increase of wealth inequality in the past few decades is a most disturbing social and economic issue of our time. In order to control, and even reverse that surge, its origin and underlying mechanisms should be revealed. One of the challenges in studying these mechanisms is to incorporate realistic individual dynamics in the population level in a self-consistent manner. Our theoretical approach meets the challenge by using interacting multi-agent master-equations to model the dynamics of wealth inequality. The model is solved using stochastic multi-agent iterated maps. Taking into account growth rate, return on capital, private savings and economic mobility, we were able to capture the historical dynamics of wealth inequality in the United States during the course of the 20th century. We show that the fraction of capital income in the national income and the fraction of private savings are the critical factors that govern the wealth inequality dynamics. In addition, we found that economic mobility plays a crucial role in wealth accumulation. Notably, we found that the major decrease in private savings since the 1980s could be associated primarily with the recent surge in wealth inequality and if nothing changes in this respect we predict further increase in wealth inequality in the future. However, the 2007–08 financial crisis brought an opportunity to restrain the wealth inequality surge by increasing private savings. If this trend continues, it may lead to prevention, and even reversing, of the ongoing inequality surge.     

Reported versus measured adult statures

Reported and measured statures were obtained for 100 husband-wife pairs. In addition, wives were asked to specify whether their husbands were tall, medium, or short. Correlations between reported and measured statures are high (0.84–0.97) and wives tend to overestimate their own measured stature by about 1 cm, and that of their husbands by about 1.3 cm. Wives correctly classify their husbands as tall, medium, or short in about 70% of the cases, using terciles of the stature distribution of American men as the standard. Reported statures may be useful proxies for measured statures for certain purposes. In the absence of measured or reported statures, a wife's categorization of her husband as tall, medium, or short may be satisfactory for some group studies.     

Inequality,low-intensity immigration and human capital formation in the regions of Chile, 1820-1939

This article traces inequality and numeracy development in the regions of Chile during the 19th and early 20th century. Inequality, measured with anthropometric methods, was associated with a lower speed of human capital formation. Not all talents received the necessary education to make full use of their talent for the regional economy, especially in the south in the early period. However, Chile became slightly less unequal over time and more numerate during the late 19th century. In addition, we study the correlates of low-intensity immigration in Chile. Regions with a relatively high share of North European migrants developed faster in terms of numeracy.     

The trend of BMI values of US adults by deciles, birth cohorts 1882–1986 stratified by gender and ethnicity

We estimate trends in BMI values by deciles of the US adult population by birth cohorts 1882–1986 stratified by ethnicity and gender. The highest decile increased by some 18–22 BMI units in the course of the century while the lowest ones increased by merely 1–3 BMI units. For example, a typical African American woman in the 10th percentile and 64 in. (162.6 cm) tall increased in weight by just 12 pounds (5 kg) whereas in the 90th percentile her weight would have increased by 128 pounds (58 kg). Hence, the BMI distribution became increasingly right skewed as the distance between the deciles increased considerably. The rate of change of the BMI decile curves varied greatly over time and across gender and ethnicity. The BMI deciles of white men and women experienced upswings after the two world wars and downswings during the Great Depression and also decelerated after 1970. However, among African Americans the pattern is different during the first half of the century with men's rate of increase in BMI values decreasing substantially and that of females remaining constant at a relatively high level until the Second World War. After the war, though, the rate of change of BMI values of blacks came to resemble that of whites with an accelerating phase followed by a slowdown around the 1970s.     

Adult stature and age at menarche in Zapotec-speaking communities in the Valley of Oaxaca,Mexico, in a secular perspective

Adult stature and the age at menarche among individuals from Zapotec-speaking communities in the Valley of Oaxaca in southern Mexico are considered in a secular perspective. Four sets of observations are utilized: (1) adult stature in males and females from five rural communities; (2) age at menarche in adult women and school girls from a single rural community; (3) earlier studies of adult stature in the Valley of Oaxaca; and (4) estimated stature from long bones excavated in various archaeological sites in the Valley of Oaxaca. There were no significant differences among the five communities for stature; hence, the data were pooled for analysis and comparison. Results of linear regression of stature and stature adjusted for the estimated effects of aging after 30 years of age on year of birth indicate negligible secular changes in either sex. Comparisons with statures from earlier surveys, the earliest dates to 1899, also indicate negligible changes. When adult women are grouped according to age, there are no differences in mean ages at menarche between the older and younger women. Mean age at menarche for the total adult sample is 14.53 ± 0.08 years, which compares favorably with the probit estimate for school girls, 14.70 ± 0.32 years. These results thus suggest virtually no secular change in adult size and maturity of the Zapotec-speaking population in the Valley of Oaxaca over the past 80 years. Differences in stature between contemporary populations and estimated statures from long bones from several archaeological sites in Oaxaca are small, and thus suggests little secular change over the past one to two–thousand years.     

Estimation of stature from the skeletal reconstruction of an immature Neandertal from Dederiyeh cave, Syria

Skeletal reconstruction of a child Neandertal unearthed at Dederiyeh Cave, Syria in 1993, is undertaken and the acquired stature discussed. Although the skeletal remains were well preserved, the reconstruction required several assumptions to be made because of the immature status of the specimen. The assumptions were mainly concerned with distances between bones in the inter-vertebral spaces and in the joints of the hip, knee, and ankle. These were estimated from X-ray films of modern children and data from previous studies. Stature was directly measured on the reconstruction, and found to be 79.2 cm. After corrections for soft tissue thickness and shrinkage of the casts, the stature became 81.7 cm. This estimate is consistent with estimates based on regression equations of long bone lengths, especially from those of the lower extremity. In comparison with longitudinal data for white American boys, the assessment of stature for Dederiyeh varied according to the estimated age. For a younger estimated age, the stature falls in the lower half of the white American range of variation, but with an older estimated age, it falls below the lower limit of the range of variation. Other immature Neandertals including two European specimens, Roc de Marsal and La Ferrassie 6, fall below the lower limit of the 5th to 95th percentile range based on the estimated statures from their long bone lengths. More comprehensive age assessment covering both fossil and modern humans is required before accurate conclusions in relation to Neandertal growth can be drawn.     

Stature in an early mid-19th century poorhouse population: Highland Park, Rochester, New York

If the early 19th century United States was a developing country, then it may be expected that the lowest economic stratum would show some biological consequences of poverty. This report examines that question by estimating stature on 90 male and 64 female adult skeletons from an unmarked cemetery dating between 1826 and 1863. The Highland Park burial ground was adjacent to institutions which interned unfortunates of Rochester, Monroe County, in western New York. The best estimate of male stature (N = 84) is 172.6 cm. A review of other 18th and 19th century height data shows this value not to be relatively stunted, but rather exactly on the predicted mean of its time. If this was a poor population, stunting was not a consequence of poverty. Females (N = 59) showed a best height estimate of 160.0 cm. Less comparative data are available, but this too seems average for the time. A brief discussion of secular trends, changing income inequity and fluctuating stature from the 18th through 20th centuries puts this finding in context.     

The biological standard of living in 19th century Mexico and in the American West

During the mid-19th century, the United States acquired Texas and large parts of Mexican territory with the vast Mexican-born population. This paper considers the biological standard of living of the part of this population that was incarcerated in American prisons. We use their physical stature as a proxy for their biological welfare. These data confirm earlier results which showed that adult heights tended to stagnate in Mexico during the late-19th century despite considerable social and political turmoil. While there is some evidence of a decline in height among youth, the decline is slight (<1 cm). As in other 19th century samples, farmers were the tallest. Americans were taller than Mexican prisoners by about 2 cm.     

Parasite stress promotes homicide and child maltreatment

Researchers using the parasite-stress theory of human values have discovered many cross-cultural behavioural patterns that inform a range of scholarly disciplines. Here, we apply the theory to major categories of interpersonal violence, and the empirical findings are supportive. We hypothesize that the collectivism evoked by high parasite stress is a cause of adult-on-adult interpersonal violence. Across the US states, parasite stress and collectivism each positively predicts rates of men's and women's slaying of a romantic partner, as well as the rate of male-honour homicide and of the motivationally similar felony-related homicide. Of these four types of homicide, wealth inequality has an independent effect only on rates of male-honour and felony-related homicide. Parasite stress and collectivism also positively predict cross-national homicide rates. Child maltreatment by caretakers is caused, in part, by divestment in offspring of low phenotypic quality, and high parasite stress produces more such offspring than low parasite stress. Rates of each of two categories of the child maltreatment--lethal and non-lethal--across the US states are predicted positively by parasite stress, with wealth inequality and collectivism having limited effects. Parasite stress may be the strongest predictor of interpersonal violence to date.