The field of anthropometric history was introduced in the late 1970s when economic historians started to quantify the standard of living in settings for which conventional indicators of well-being were unavailable or controversial. In the meanwhile research is very flourishing and the anthropometric approach has expanded, tackling various different sub-topics.

The aim of this course is to introduce students to the field of anthropometric history by covering a wide range of sub-topics, as well as countries and periods (Steckel 1998; 2009).

 The course will start with a session introducing to the concept of the biological standard of living, and the methodology using stature as well as weight as proxies of net nutritional intake (UNICEF 1990; WHO 1983; 1986). Based on the works by authors such as Eveleth and Tanner (1990), Komlos and Baten (2004), Steckel (1995; 1998; 2008a), Siravansan (1992), Ulijaszek (2006) we will discuss basic aspects in a second step, such as:  What are the advantages of utilising heights? What role does genetics play for heights of individuals and populations? When is human height determined?

In the following session we will concentrate in more detail on ”Morbidity, Mortality, height and BMI” as the interaction of these aspects is of particular importance. On the one hand, health (disease stress) is one of the main direct determinants of nutritional status, and thus affecting the outcome in mean height and BMI, as well as longevity (e.g. Crimmins and Finch 2006; Marino 2007; Oxley 2006; Schaible and Kaufmann 2007). In particular infection and under-nutrition have a synergistic relationship (Stephensen 1999). On the other hand, nutritional status has an impact on health. Apart from the immediate consequences for health during childhood, inadequate net nutrition moreover can have an impact on morbidity later in life:  for example on cardiovascular, bronchial and respiratory, or cholesterol and diabetic disease susceptibility in adulthood (the fetal origins hypothesis). Furthermore, research discussion is going on how and to what extent the occurrence of different diseases such as small pox, cancer or malaria have affected or have been affected by the mean height development of a population.

 Improvements in health and net nutrition can have a beneficial impact on economic growth, which in turn can affect the biological standard of living again. This is the case for the population in general due to the overall enhancement of human capital. Moreover, Schultz (2002), Deaton and Arora (2009), Humphries and Leunig (2009).and others found anthropometric determinants to have also an effect on occupational choice and wages; although the latter not necessarily is a linear wage premium, but rather a curvilinear (Hübler 2009).

A particular advantage of the anthropometric approach is that it allows us to study quantitatively even the welfare far back in time (Steckel 2003). Height data based on human remains from excavated cemeteries allow a very long-tem perspective, and therefore insights into the wellbeing of former populations, for which nor or only rarely other adequate sources of information on average living standards are available: We will discuss long-term developments in Europe and the Americas (e.g. Maat 2005, Koepke 2008 respect. Bogin and Keep 1999, Steckel 2005a, Steckel 2005b, Steckel and Rose 2002).

Additionally to the possibility to utilise anthropometric measures to study the development of nutritional status in the course of time – controlling for example for the effect of the demographic expansion and changes in the degree of urbanisation –, the anthropometric approach also can be used in order to examine regional differences within and in-between countries. For example, various studies of historic and recent conditions in today’s LDCs brought decisive insights to conditions if inequality (e.g. Srinivasan 2000; Moradi 2005, 2009; Guntupalli and Baten 2006).

Moreover, a special feature of anthropometric indicators is that they allow insights into the well-being of social groups, such as slaves or peers, and thus enable comparison of different groups. Similarly it is also possible to study within-inequality. Other than traditional welfare measures (e.g. GDP) anthropometric measures even mirrors resource allocation within a household, and give information on sections of the population, which otherwise lay in the dark (esp. children). They enable us to study for example the existence and development of gender specific discrepancies.

 Studies in various research fields of economic and social sciences indicate gender specific discrimination in different societies at least to some extent, which is most commonly anti-female directed. Anthropometric research in particular allows a clear insight to the existence and development of gender specific discrepancies caused by society-induced norms and corresponding conditions. These factors can result in different environmental conditions causing different gender-specific (nutritional) status between girls and boys, as well as women and men. Important fundamental fact is that several recent studies come to the conclusion that – in contrast to the former idea that females are the more robust sex –, actually females and males react similar on comparable (changes in) environmental conditions. Correspondingly, anthropometric measures can be utilised to reconstruct gender discrimination concerning inequitable resource allocation between the genders (e.g. Baten and Murray 2000; Stinson 2000; Horrel, Meredith and Oxley 2009; Komlos 2009; Moradi and Guntupalli 2009).

Other topics within the anthropometric history research are the for example effects of colonialism (e.g. Brennan et al. 2000; Morgan and Liu 2007: Moradi 2008), biological well-being during political or economic crises (e.g. Salvatore, 2004; Schwekendiek, 2008), wellbeing in non-market economies (e.g. Mironov, 1999; Wheatcroft 2009; Stillman and Thomas 2008), or the development of living conditions in different regions in the world and the impact of industrialisation:  Studies on the effect of industrialisation in the US discuss the feature of the early-industrial so-called Antebellum Puzzle (Komlos 1987; 1998): Why did the nutrition and health status of Americans decrease though national income and real wages increased? A session on the effect of industrialisation in Europe would be based on a comparison of the UK and mainland Europe in the 19th and 20th century (e.g. Cinnirella 2008; Martínez-Carrión and Moreno-Lázaro 2007).

Two different effects could be distinguished as result of the technological change, which accompanies the industrialisation, altering the affected economy extremely. On the one hand, a wide range of other transformations occur in tandem that in turn have negative health implications; however, on the other hand, an advanced medical technology and other changes can have a positive impact on the living standard. We will discuss the possible outcomes, the ‘when and where’, and potential reasons for the varying effects of industrialisation in Europe.

Based on this wide range of anthropometric studies, students can choose on which further sub-topics and contributions they would like to draw attention to in the following sessions.

After we decided on which topics we would like to concentrate further readings will be announced for each upcoming session. In each case, firstly I will give an introduction to the specific topic; secondly, we will reflect on the various debates and we will discuss the evidence and the explanations put forward for specific findings based on the reading list I will hand out beforehand. The literature selection will be concentrated on recent papers rather than on the standard works such as Eveleth and Tanner (1990), Floud et al. (1990) or Fogel (2004).

 The course is an introduction to anthropometric history, thus it will be taught so that it is suitable for newcomers to the field, means any occurring sophisticated econometric methods will be explained in each session.
 

REFERENCES

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Bogin, B., and Keep, R., Eight Thousand Years of Economic and Political History in Latin America Revealed by Anthropometry. Annals of Human Biology 26(4), 1999, 333-351.

Brennan, L, McDonald, J. and Shlomowitz, R., Change in stature of North Indians from British Rule to early independence. Jahrbuch für Wirtschafts-geschichte 2000, 129-146.

Cinnirella, F., On the road to industrialization: nutritional status in Saxony, 1690-1850. Cliometrica 2, 2008, 229-257.

Crimmins, E., and Finch, C., Infection, inflammation, height, and longevity. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 103(2), 2006, 498–503.

Deaton, A., and Arora, R., Life at the top: the benefits of height. NBER Working Paper Series, National Bureau of Economic Research, June 2009.

Eveleth, P. B., and Tanner, J.M., Worldwide Variation in Human Growth. 2nd ed. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Floud, R., Wachter, K., and Gregory, A., Height, health and history: Nutritional status in the United Kingdom, 1750-1980. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990.

Fogel, R., The escape from hunger and premature death, 1700-2100: Europe, America, and the Third World. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2004.

Guntupalli, A., and Baten, J., The development and inequality of heights in North, West and East India, 1915-44, Explorations in Economic History 43(4), 2006, 578-608.

Horrell, S., Meredith, D., and Oxley, D., Measuring Misery: Body Mass, ageing and gender inequality in Victorian London. Explorations in Economic History 46(1), 2009, 93-119.

Hübler, O., The nonlinear link between height and wages in Germany, 1985–2004. Economics and Human Biology 7(2), 2009, 191-199.

Humphries, J., and Leunig, T., Was Dick Whittington taller than those he left behind? Anthropometric measures, migration and the quality of life in early nineteenth century London? Explorations in Economic History 46(1), 2009, 120-131.

Komlos, J., The height and weight of West Point cadets: Dietary change in Antebellum America. Journal of Economic History 47(4), 1987, 897-927.

Komlos, J., Shrinking in a growing economy? The mystery of physical stature during the industrial revolution. Journal of Economic History 58(3), 1998, 779-802.

Komlos, J., Recent Trends in Height by Gender and Ethnicity in the US in Relation to Levels of Income. NBER Working Paper 14635, January 2009. http://www.nber.org/papers/w14635

Komlos, J., and Baten, J., Looking Backward and Looking Forward: Anthropometric Research and the Development of Social Science History. Social Science History 28(2), 2004, 191-210.

Koepke, N., Regional Differences and Temporal Development of the Nutritional Status in Europe from the 8th century B.C. until the 18th century A.D. Publ. Dissertation, University of Tuebingen, 2008.

Maat, G., Two millennia of male stature development and population health and wealth in the Low Countries. International Journal of Osteoarchaeology 15, 2005, 276-290.

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Martínez-Carrión, J.M., and Moreno-Lázaro J., Was there an urban height penalty in Spain, 1840-1913? Economics and Human Biology 5,1, 2007, 144-164.

Moradi, A., Nutrition, economic development and civil wars in sub-Saharan Africa (1950-2000), Publ. Dissertation, University of Tuebingen, 2005.

Moradi, A., Towards an Objective Account of Nutrition and Health in Colonial Kenya: A Study of Stature in African Army Recruits and Civilians, 1880-1980, Journal of Economic History, 96(3), 2009, 720-755.

Moradi, A., Confronting Colonial Legacies - Lessons from Human Development in Ghana and Kenya, Journal of International Development, 20, 2008, 1107-1121.

Moradi, A., and Guntupalli, A., What does Gender Dimorphism in Stature Tell Us about Discrimination in Rural India, 1930-1975? In: Pal, M., Bharati, P., Ghosh, B., and Vasulu, T. (eds.), Gender Bias: Health, Nutrition and Work. New Dehli: Oxford University Press, 2009, 258-277.

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Oxley, D., “Pitted but not pitied” or, does smallpox make you small?, Economic History Review 59(3), 2006, 617-635.

Salvatore, R., Stature decline and recovery in a food-rich export economy: Argentina 1900–1934. Explorations in Economic History 41(3), 2004, 233-255.

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Schultz, T.P., Wage gains associated with height as a form of health human capital. American Economic Review 92(2), 2002, 349-353.

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Srinivasan, T., Poverty and undernutrition in South Asia. Food Policy 25(3), 2000, 269-282.

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