IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ehsrev/v64y2011ip142-158.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Height and living standards in North Korea, 1930s–1980s

Author

Listed:
  • SUNYOUNG PAK
  • DANIEL SCHWEKENDIEK
  • HEE KYOUNG KIM

Abstract

type="main" xml:lang="en"> The adult stature of 6,512 North Korean refugees born from the 1930s to the 1980s was employed as an indicator of living standards in North Korea. The height of North Koreans born before the division of the Korean Peninsula exceeded that of their South Korean peers. All North Korean cohorts born thereafter were shorter than their South Korean counterparts. North Koreans did not experience a meaningful secular increase in height during 60 years of communism. A consistent and positive effect of about 1–2 cm for high educational status was found when height was regressed on birth decades, education, regional origin, and occupation.

Suggested Citation

  • Sunyoung Pak & Daniel Schwekendiek & Hee Kyoung Kim, 2011. "Height and living standards in North Korea, 1930s–1980s," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 64, pages 142-158, February.
  • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:64:y:2011:i::p:142-158
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1111/j.1468-0289.2009.00509.x
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to look for a different version below or search for a different version of it.

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Schwekendiek, Daniel, 2008. "Determinants of well-being in North Korea: Evidence from the post-famine period," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 6(3), pages 446-454, December.
    2. John Strauss & Duncan Thomas, 1998. "Health, Nutrition, and Economic Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 36(2), pages 766-817, June.
    3. Schwekendiek, Daniel, 2008. "The North Korean standard of living during the famine," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 66(3), pages 596-608, February.
    4. Joerg Baten & Sandew Hira, 2008. "Anthropometric Trends In Southern China, 1830–1864," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 48(3), pages 209-226, November.
    5. Kimura, Mitsuhiko, 1993. "Standards of Living in Colonial Korea: Did the Masses Become Worse Off or Better Off Under Japanese Rule?," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 53(3), pages 629-652, September.
    6. Pak, Sunyoung, 2004. "The biological standard of living in the two Koreas," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 511-518, December.
    7. Richard H. Steckel, 1995. "Stature and the Standard of Living," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 33(4), pages 1903-1940, December.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Cámara, Antonio D. & Puche, Javier & Martínez-Carrión, José Miguel, 2021. "Assessing the effects of autarchic policies on the biological well-being: Analysis of deviations in cohort male height in the Valencian Community (Spain) during Francoist regime," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 273(C).
    2. Jun, Seong Ho & Lewis, James B. & Schwekendiek, Daniel, 2017. "The biological standard of living in pre-modern Korea: Determinants of height of militia recruits during the Chosŏn dynasty," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 24(C), pages 104-110.
    3. Grundy, John & Hoban, Elizabeth & Allender, Steve & Annear, Peter, 2014. "The inter-section of political history and health policy in Asia – The historical foundations for health policy analysis," Social Science & Medicine, Elsevier, vol. 117(C), pages 150-159.
    4. Kitae Sohn, 2015. "A World Record in the Improvement in Biological Standards of Living in Korea: Evidence from Age at Menarche," CEH Discussion Papers 037, Centre for Economic History, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.

    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. Steckel, Richard H., 2009. "Heights and human welfare: Recent developments and new directions," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 46(1), pages 1-23, January.
    2. Schwekendiek, Daniel & Pak, Sunyoung, 2009. "Recent growth of children in the two Koreas: A meta-analysis," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 7(1), pages 109-112, March.
    3. Thompson, Kristina & Lindeboom, Maarten & Portrait, France, 2019. "Adult body height as a mediator between early-life conditions and socio-economic status: the case of the Dutch Potato Famine, 1846–1847," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 103-114.
    4. Schultz, T. Paul, 2010. "Population and Health Policies," Handbook of Development Economics, in: Dani Rodrik & Mark Rosenzweig (ed.), Handbook of Development Economics, edition 1, volume 5, chapter 0, pages 4785-4881, Elsevier.
    5. Scott A. Carson, 2010. "Nineteenth Century US African-American and White Female Statures: Insight from US Prison Records," CESifo Working Paper Series 3169, CESifo.
    6. Carson, Scott Alan, 2011. "Height of female Americans in the 19th century and the antebellum puzzle," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 9(2), pages 157-164, March.
    7. Delphine BOUTIN & Marine JOUVIN, 2022. "Child Labour Consequences on Education and Health: A Review of Evidence and Knowledge Gaps," Bordeaux Economics Working Papers 2022-14, Bordeaux School of Economics (BSE).
    8. James P. Smith & Yan Shen & John Strauss & Yang Zhe & Yaohui Zhao, 2012. "The Effects of Childhood Health on Adult Health and SES in China," Economic Development and Cultural Change, University of Chicago Press, vol. 61(1), pages 127-156.
    9. Pérez-Mesa, David & Marrero, Gustavo A. & Darias-Curvo, Sara, 2021. "Child health inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa," MPRA Paper 108801, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Carlos Bozzoli, 2010. "A Lost Generation? Long Term Socioeconomic Outcomes in Orphans," Discussion Papers of DIW Berlin 1069, DIW Berlin, German Institute for Economic Research.
    11. Anne Case & Christina Paxson, 2008. "Stature and Status: Height, Ability, and Labor Market Outcomes," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 116(3), pages 499-532, June.
    12. repec:ilo:ilowps:376213 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Ward, W. Peter, 2013. "Stature, migration and human welfare in South China, 1850–1930," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 11(4), pages 488-501.
    14. Angus Deaton, 2003. "Health, Inequality, and Economic Development," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 41(1), pages 113-158, March.
    15. van den Berg, G. J & Lundborg P & Nystedt P & Rooth D, 2009. "Critical Periods During Childhood and Adolescence: A Study of Adult Height Among Immigrant Siblings," Health, Econometrics and Data Group (HEDG) Working Papers 09/20, HEDG, c/o Department of Economics, University of York.
    16. Shing-Yi Wang, 2015. "Statistical Discrimination, Productivity, and the Height of Immigrants," ILR Review, Cornell University, ILR School, vol. 68(3), pages 529-557, May.
    17. Seonghoon Kim & Quheng Deng & Belton M. Fleisher & Shi Li, 2010. "The Lasting Impact of Mothers’ Fetal Malnutrition on Their Offspring: Evidence from the China Great Leap Forward Famine," Working Papers 10-01, Ohio State University, Department of Economics.
    18. Schultz, T. Paul, 2005. "Productive Benefits of Health: Evidence from Low-Income Countries," IZA Discussion Papers 1482, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    19. Alberto Batinti & Joan Costa‐Font & Timothy J. Hatton, 2022. "Voting Up? The Effects of Democracy and Franchise Extension on Human Stature," Economica, London School of Economics and Political Science, vol. 89(353), pages 161-190, January.
    20. Elisabetta De Cao, 2010. "The Height Production Function from Birth to Early Adulthood," CEIS Research Paper 165, Tor Vergata University, CEIS, revised 28 May 2010.
    21. Valdivia, Martin, 2004. "Poverty, health infrastructure and the nutrition of Peruvian children," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 2(3), pages 489-510, December.

    More about this item

    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:bla:ehsrev:v:64:y:2011:i::p:142-158. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ehsukea.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.