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A Substitution Effect as a Possible Cause for the Antebellum Heights Puzzle

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  • Shawn A Osell

    (Clarkson University)

Abstract

The first half of the nineteenth century was a time of significant economic growth in the United States. Economic growth generally coincides with increasing real wages and better health and nutrition. It is also common to see increasing stature of a nation over time as a result of economic development. Ironically, the antebellum period was a time of decreasing average stature. This contradiction is referred to as the antebellum puzzle. The literature regarding this puzzle offers some possible explanations. We focus on one possible hypothesis for the antebellum puzzle. Changes in Nutrition and Diet may have resulted from a transformation in the composition of US economic production leading to a temporary decrease in overall stature. This paper examines if there was a substitution effect between manufactured goods and agricultural output as the US developed during the antebellum period. Because of the lack of data about nutrition during the 1800s, stature is used as a proxy to reflect one's diet in the early stages of life. Our research finds that a substitution effect between manufactured goods and agriculture output may have contributed to the antebellum puzzle.

Suggested Citation

  • Shawn A Osell, 2018. "A Substitution Effect as a Possible Cause for the Antebellum Heights Puzzle," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 38(4), pages 1889-1904.
    • Handle: RePEc:ebl:ecbull:eb-18-00052
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    File URL: http://www.accessecon.com/Pubs/EB/2018/Volume38/EB-18-V38-I4-P175.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Yoo, Dongwoo, 2012. "Height and death in the Antebellum United States: A view through the lens of geographically weighted regression," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 10(1), pages 43-53.
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    Cited by:

    1. Uche Eseosa Ekhator-Mobayode & Seyedsoroosh Azizi, 2019. "Does the Presence of Neighborhood Gang Affect Youth Criminal Behavior?," Economics Bulletin, AccessEcon, vol. 39(3), pages 2102-2109.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Antebellum; stature; substitution effect.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N3 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy
    • O1 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development

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