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Body mass, wealth, and inequality in the 19th century: Joining the debate surrounding equality and health

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  • Carson, Scott Alan

Abstract

We explore relationships among BMI variation, wealth, and inequality in the 19th century US. There was an inverse relationship between BMI and average state-level wealth and a small, inverse relationship with wealth inequality. After controlling for wealth and inequality, farmers had greater BMI values than workers in other occupations, and blacks had greater BMI values because of nutritional deprivation in utero.

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  • Carson, Scott Alan, 2013. "Body mass, wealth, and inequality in the 19th century: Joining the debate surrounding equality and health," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 11(1), pages 90-94.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ehbiol:v:11:y:2013:i:1:p:90-94
    DOI: 10.1016/j.ehb.2012.05.004
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    Cited by:

    1. Toselli, Stefania & Rinaldo, Natascia & Gualdi-Russo, Emanuela, 2019. "Length of residence and obesity risk among North African immigrant women in Italy," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 34(C), pages 74-79.
    2. Scott A. Carson, 2020. "Biological Differences between Late 19th and Early 20th Century Urban and Rural Residence," CESifo Working Paper Series 8523, CESifo.
    3. Scott Alan Carson & Scott A. Carson, 2022. "Nineteenth and Early 20th Century Physical Activity and Calories by Gender and Race," CESifo Working Paper Series 10140, CESifo.
    4. Pasqualini, M. & Lanari, D. & Minelli, L. & Pieroni, L. & Salmasi, L., 2017. "Health and income inequalities in Europe: What is the role of circumstances?," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 164-173.
    5. Undurraga, Eduardo A. & Nica, Veronica & Zhang, Rebecca & Mensah, Irene C. & Godoy, Ricardo A., 2016. "Individual health and the visibility of village economic inequality: Longitudinal evidence from native Amazonians in Bolivia," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 23(C), pages 18-26.
    6. Scott A. Carson, 2021. "The Changing Antebellum Period through Early 20th Century Net Nutrition between Male and Females: A Difference-In-Decompositions within and across Group Comparison," CESifo Working Paper Series 9402, CESifo.
    7. Liczbińska, Grażyna & Czapla, Zbigniew & Nowak, Oskar & Piontek, Janusz, 2016. "Body mass index values of conscripts in the Polish lands under Prussian rule in the late 19th and early 20th centuries," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 21(C), pages 75-83.
    8. Scott Alan Carson, 2020. "Net nutrition, insolation, mortality, and the antebellum paradox," Journal of Bioeconomics, Springer, vol. 22(2), pages 77-98, July.
    9. Scott A. Carson, 2015. "The Weight of Inequality: Variation with Industrialization and Wealth," CESifo Working Paper Series 5629, CESifo.
    10. Begoña Candela-Martínez & José M. Martínez-Carrión & Cándido Román-Cervantes, 2021. "Biological Well-Being and Inequality in Canary Islands: Lanzarote (Cohorts 1886–1982)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-21, December.

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    Keywords

    BMI; Wealth; Inequality; Race; US;
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