IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/iza/izadps/dp7275.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

The Transformation of Hunger Revisited

Author

Listed:
  • Gazeley, Ian

    (University of Sussex)

  • Newell, Andrew T.

    (University of Sussex)

  • Bezabih, Mintewab

    (London School of Economics)

Abstract

We examine Trevon Logan's 2009 claim to have found low levels of nutrition among British worker's households in the late 19th century. Using the same data, we conclude that Logan's estimates are thirty percent too low. Logan buttressed his estimates by claiming that the income elasticity of calories demand was unusually high among these households, relative to other estimates, reflecting great hunger. We find that the elasticity is high, but not outside the range observed in other data sets. We also warn against the simple assertion that a high elasticity implies hunger.

Suggested Citation

  • Gazeley, Ian & Newell, Andrew T. & Bezabih, Mintewab, 2013. "The Transformation of Hunger Revisited," IZA Discussion Papers 7275, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    • Handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7275
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://docs.iza.org/dp7275.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Floud,Roderick & Fogel,Robert W. & Harris,Bernard & Hong,Sok Chul, 2011. "The Changing Body," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521705615.
      • Floud,Roderick & Fogel,Robert W. & Harris,Bernard & Hong,Sok Chul, 2011. "The Changing Body," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521879750.
    2. Ian Gazeley & Andrew Newell, 2015. "Urban working-class food consumption and nutrition in Britain in 1904," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(1), pages 101-122, February.
    3. Subramanian, Shankar & Deaton, Angus, 1996. "The Demand for Food and Calories," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 104(1), pages 133-162, February.
    4. Logan, Trevon D., 2009. "The Transformation of Hunger: The Demand for Calories Past and Present," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 69(2), pages 388-408, June.
    5. Ogundari, Kolawole & Abdulai, Awudu, 2012. "A meta-analysis of the response of calorie demand to income changes," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 123287, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    6. Logan, Trevon D., 2006. "Nutrition and Well-Being in the Late Nineteenth Century," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 66(2), pages 313-341, June.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Francisco J. Medina-Albaladejo & Salvador Calatayud, 2021. "Children’s Diet during the Early Stages of the Nutritional Transition. The Foundlings in the Hospital of Valencia (Spain), 1852–1931," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(22), pages 1-15, November.
    2. Trevon D. Logan, 2011. "Economies Of Scale In The Household: Puzzles And Patterns From The American Past," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 49(4), pages 1008-1028, October.
    3. Ian Gazeley & Rose Holmes & Andrew Newell & Kevin Reynolds & Hector Gutierrez Rufrancos, 2023. "Escaping from hunger before WW1: the nutritional transition and living standards in Western Europe and USA in the late nineteenth century," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 17(3), pages 533-565, September.
    4. Jorge Valero-Gil & Magali Valero, 2013. "Nutritional Intake and Poverty in Mexico: 1984--2010," Journal of Development Studies, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 49(10), pages 1375-1396, October.
    5. Bruno Lanz & Simon Dietz & Timothy Swanson, 2017. "Global Population Growth, Technology, And Malthusian Constraints: A Quantitative Growth Theoretic Perspective," International Economic Review, Department of Economics, University of Pennsylvania and Osaka University Institute of Social and Economic Research Association, vol. 58(3), pages 973-1006, August.
    6. Lanz, Bruno & Dietz, Simon & Swanson, Tim, 2018. "The Expansion of Modern Agriculture and Global Biodiversity Decline: An Integrated Assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 144(C), pages 260-277.
    7. Kota Ogasawara & Ian Gazeley & Eric B. Schneider, 2020. "Nutrition, Crowding, And Disease Among Low‐Income Households In Tokyo In 1930," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(1), pages 73-104, March.
    8. Schneider, Eric B., 2021. "The effect of nutritional status on historical infectious disease morbidity: evidence from the London Foundling Hospital, 1892-1919," Economic History Working Papers 111030, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    9. Ann Carlos & Frank D. Lewis, 2010. "Property Rights, Standards Of Living, And Economic Growth: Western Canadian Cree," Working Paper 1232, Economics Department, Queen's University.
    10. Tankari, Mahamadou R., 2014. "L’élasticité calorie-revenu est-elle faible au Niger ?," Revue d'Etudes en Agriculture et Environnement, Editions NecPlus, vol. 95(04), pages 473-491, December.
    11. Galofré-Vilà, Gregori, 2018. "Growth and maturity: A quantitative systematic review and network analysis in anthropometric history," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 28(C), pages 107-118.
    12. De Zhou & Xiaohua Yu, 2015. "Calorie Elasticities with Income Dynamics: Evidence from the Literature," Applied Economic Perspectives and Policy, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 37(4), pages 575-601.
    13. Morgan Kelly & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2012. "Agricultural output, calories and living standards in England before and during the Industrial Revolution," Working Papers 201212, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    14. Francisco J. Medina‐Albaladejo & Salvador Calatayud, 2020. "Unequal access to food during the nutritional transition: evidence from Mediterranean Spain," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 73(4), pages 1023-1049, November.
    15. Choudhury, Samira & Headey, Derek D., 2016. "What drives diversification of national food supplies? A cross-country analysis," IFPRI discussion papers 1581, International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI).
    16. Mohammad Ali & Kira M. Villa & Janak Joshi, 2018. "Health and hunger: nutrient response to income depending on caloric availability in Nepal," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 49(5), pages 611-621, September.
    17. Bryan S. Graham & James Powell, 2008. "Identification and Estimation of 'Irregular' Correlated Random Coefficient Models," NBER Working Papers 14469, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    18. Schneider, Eric, 2021. "The Effect of Nutritional Status on Historical Infectious Disease Morbidity: Evidence from the London Foundling Hospital, 1892-1919," CEPR Discussion Papers 16361, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    19. Jaya Jumrani & P. S. Birthal, 2017. "Does consumption of tobacco and alcohol affect household food security? Evidence from rural India," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 9(2), pages 255-279, April.
    20. Basole, Amit & Basu, Deepankar, 2015. "Fuelling Calorie Intake Decline: Household-Level Evidence from Rural India," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 82-95.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Britain; late 19th century; worker's households; living standards; nutrition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I15 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health and Economic Development
    • I32 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - Measurement and Analysis of Poverty
    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913

    NEP fields

    This paper has been announced in the following NEP Reports:

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:iza:izadps:dp7275. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Holger Hinte (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/izaaade.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.