Humans have become much taller and heavier, and experience healthier and longer lives
than ever before in human history. However it is only recently that historians, economists …

What can body measurements tell us about living standards in the past? In this collection of
essays studying height and weight data from eighteenth-and early nineteenth-century …

This article examines declining adult human stature in the nineteenth century in three
countries: the United States, England, and the Netherlands. While this was not …

Between 1830 and 1860 the United States experienced rapid economic growth but
declining stature and rising mortality. Debate has centered on whether the American diet …

Nobel laureate Robert Fogel's compelling new study examines health, nutrition and
technology from 1700 to 2100. Although throughout most of human history, chronic …

The past three decades have seen the dramatic growth of an important new historical
discipline, one which has added significantly to our understanding of the economic and …

This essay places the debate over human welfare during industrialization in the context of
very long-term economic developments by examining an important aspect of living …

1Beginning in the late 1980s, researchers in various fields, especially history, economics,
and physical anthropology, discovered a mutual interest in health and its spatial and …

This article documents differences in body size between white, black, and Indian mid-
nineteenth-century American men and investigates the socioeconomic and demographic …

Ten essays explore the secular change in living standards since the Industrial Revolution in
Australia, France, Germany, Japan, The Netherlands, Sweden, the United Kingdom, and the …