Health, Mortality and the Standard of Living in Europe and North America since 1700

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Health, Mortality and the Standard of Living in Europe and North America since 1700

9780857931788 Edward Elgar Publishing
Edited by Roderick Floud, Former Provost, Gresham College, UK, the late Robert William Fogel, Charles R. Walgreen Distinguished Service Professor of American Institutions, University of Chicago, US, Bernard Harris, Professor of Social Policy, University of Strathclyde, UK and Sok Chul Hong, Department of Economics Seoul National University, South Korea
Publication Date: January 2015 ISBN: 978 0 85793 178 8 Extent: 1,752 pp
These two volumes bring together important and influential articles and papers on different aspects of the history of health and welfare. The collection includes classic and more recent essays on the origins and nature of mortality decline; the early-life origins of adult health and disease; changes in height, weight and body mass; the definition and measurement of the ‘standard of living’; and the economic and social impact of health improvements.

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These two volumes bring together important and influential articles and papers on different aspects of the history of health and welfare. The collection includes classic and more recent essays on the origins and nature of mortality decline; the early-life origins of adult health and disease; changes in height, weight and body mass; the definition and measurement of the ‘standard of living’; and the economic and social impact of health improvements.

As leading authorities in their field, the editors have provided an original introduction, which offers an essential guide to the debates about the causes and consequences of the decline of mortality and the improvement of human health over the last three centuries.
Contributors
76 articles, dating from 1934 to 2008
Contributors include: R. Easterlin, S. Engerman, T. McKeown, M. Nussbaum, S. Preston, A. Sen, R. Steckel, T. Wrigley
Contents
Contents:
Volume I

Introduction Roderick Floud, Bernard Harris and Sok Chul Hong

Obituary Robert William Fogel (1926–2013) Roderick Floud

PART I THE DECLINE OF MORTALITY
1. Thomas McKeown and R.G. Brown (1955), ‘Medical Evidence Related to English Population Changes in the Eighteenth Century’, Population Studies, 9 (2), November, 119–41

2. Thomas McKeown and R.G. Record (1962), ‘Reasons for the Decline of Mortality in England and Wales during the Nineteenth Century’, Population Studies, 16 (2), November, 94–122

3. Thomas McKeown, R.G. Brown and R.G. Record (1972), ‘An Interpretation of the Modern Rise of Population in Europe’, Population Studies, 26 (3), November, 345–82

4. P.E. Razzell (1974), ‘“An Interpretation of the Modern Rise of Population in Europe” – A Critique’, Population Studies, 28 (1), March, 5–17

5. E.A. Wrigley (1983), ‘The Growth of Population in Eighteenth-Century England: A Conundrum Resolved’, Past and Present, 98 (1), February, 121–50

6. Robert Woods (1985), ‘The Effects of Population Redistribution on the Level of Mortality in Nineteenth-Century England and Wales’, Journal of Economic History, 45 (3), September, 645–51

7. Simon Szreter (1988), ‘The Importance of Social Intervention in Britain’s Mortality Decline c.1850–1914: A Re-interpretation of the Role of Public Health’, Social History of Medicine, 1, 1–37

8. Samuel H. Preston and Etienne van de Walle (1978), ‘Urban French Mortality in the Nineteenth Century’, Population Studies, 32 (2), July, 275–97

9. Edward Meeker (1971–2), ‘The Improving Health of the United States, 1850–1915’, Explorations in Economic History, 9 (1), 353–73

10. Samuel H. Preston (1975), ‘The Changing Relation between Mortality and Level of Economic Development’, Population Studies, 29 (2), July, 231 48

PART II FACTORS ASSOCIATED WITH MORTALITY CHANGE
11. Partha Dasgupta and Debraj Ray (1990), ‘Adapting to Undernourishment: The Biological Evidence and its Implications’, in Jean Drèze and Amartya Sen (eds), The Political Economy of Hunger: Volume 1 Entitlement and Well-Being, Chapter 7, Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 191–246

12. Sarah F. McMahon (1981), ‘Provisions Laid Up for the Family: Toward a History of Diet in New England, 1650–1850’, Historical Methods, 14 (1), Winter, 4–21

13. Carole Shammas (1984), ‘The Eighteenth-Century English Diet and Economic Change’, Explorations in Economic History, 21, 254–69

14. David Grigg (1995), ‘The Nutritional Transition in Western Europe’, Journal of Historical Geography, 22 (1), July, 247–61

15. Roy Porter (1991), ‘Cleaning Up the Great Wen: Public Health in Eighteenth-Century London’, in W.F. Bynum and Roy Porter (eds), Living and Dying in London (Medical History, Supplement no. 11), London, UK: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 61–75

16. John C. Brown (1988), ‘Coping with Crisis? The Diffusion of Waterworks in Late Nineteenth-Century German Towns’, Journal of Economic History XLVIII (2), June, 307–18

17. W. Robert Lee and Jörg P. Vögele (2001), ‘The Benefits of Federalism? The Development of Public Health Policy and Health Care Systems in Nineteenth-Century Germany and their Impact on Mortality Reduction’, Annales de Démographie Historique, 101 (1), 65–96

18. William H. Hubbard (2000), ‘The Urban Penalty: Towns and Mortality in Nineteenth-Century Norway’, Continuity and Change, 15 (2), September, 331–50

19. Karin Johannisson (1994), ‘The People’s Health: Public Health Policies in Sweden’, in Dororthy Porter (ed.), The History of Public Health and the Modern State, Chapter 4, Amsterdam, the Netherlands: Editions Rodopi B.V., 165–82

20. David Cutler and Grant Miller (2005), ‘The Role of Public Health Improvements in Health Advances: The Twentieth-Century United States’, Demography, 42 (1), February, 1–22

PART III EARLY-LIFE ORIGINS OF ADULT DISEASE
21. Dugald Baird (1974), ‘The Epidemiology of Low Birth Weight: Changes in Incidence in Aberdeen, 1948–72’, Journal of Biosocial Science, 6 (3), July, 323–41

22. L.H. Lumey (1998), ‘Reproductive Outcomes in Women Prenatally Exposed to Undernutrition: A Review of Findings from the Dutch Famine Birth Cohort’, Proceedings of the Nutrition Society, 57, 129–35

23. Siddiq Osmani and Amartya Sen (2003), ‘The Hidden Penalties of Gender Inequality: Fetal Origins of Ill-Health’, Economics and Human Biology, (1), January, 105–21

24. D.J.P. Barker and C. Osmond (1986), ‘Infant Mortality, Childhood Nutrition, and Ischaemic Heart Disease in England and Wales’, The Lancet, 327(8489), May, 1077–81

25. Irma T. Elo and Samuel H. Preston (1992), ‘Effects of Early-Life Conditions on Adult Mortality: A Review’, Population Index, 58 (2), Summer, 186 212

26. Tommy Bengtsson and Martin Lindström (2003), ‘Airborne Infectious Diseases during Infancy and Mortality in Later Life in Southern Sweden, 1766–1894’, and G. Doblhammer (2003), ‘Commentary: Infectious Diseases during Infancy and Mortality in Later Life’, International Journal of Epidemiology, 32 (2), April, 286–95

27. W.O. Kermack, A.G. McKendrick and P.L. McKinlay (1934), ‘Death-Rates in Great Britain and Sweden: Some General Regularities and their Significance’, The Lancet, 223 (5770), March, 698–703

28. Gunnar Fridlizius (1989), ‘The Deformation of Cohorts: Nineteenth Century Mortality Decline in a Generational Perspective’, Scandinavian Economic History Review and Economy and History, XXXVII (3), 3–17

29. Graziella Caselli and Riccardo Capocaccia (1989), ‘Age, Period, Cohort and Early Mortality: An Analysis of Adult Mortality in Italy’, Population Studies, 43 (1), March, 133–53

30. Bernard Harris (2001), ‘Commentary: “The Child is Father of the Man.” The Relationship between Child Health and Adult Mortality in the 19th and 20th Centuries’, International Journal of Epidemiology, 30 (4), 688–96

31. F. Janssen and A.E. Kunst for the Netherlands Epidemiology and Demography Compression of Morbidity research group (2005), ‘Cohort Patterns in Mortality Trends among the Elderly in Seven European Countries, 1950–99’, International Journal of Epidemiology, 34 (5), October, 1149–59

PART IV LIVING STANDARDS, INCOME AND WEALTH
32. Stanley L. Engerman (1997), ‘The Standard of Living Debate in International Perspective: Measures and Indicators’, in Richard H. Steckel and Roderick Floud (eds), Health and Welfare during Industrialization, Chapter 1, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 17–45

33. M.K. Bennett (1937), ‘On Measurement of Relative National Standards of Living’, Quarterly Journal of Economics, 51 (2), February, 317–36

34. Richard A. Easterlin (1974), ‘Does Economic Growth Improve the Human Lot? Some Empirical Evidence’, in Paul A. David and Melvin W. Reder (eds), Nations and Households in Economic Growth: Essays in Honor of Moses Abramovitz, New York, NY and London, UK: Academic Press, 89–125

35. Partha Dasgupta and Martin Weale (1992), ‘On Measuring the Quality of Life’, World Development, 20 (1), 119–31

36. Sherwin Rosen (1994), ‘The Quantity and Quality of Life: A Conceptual Framework’, in George Tolley, Donald Kenkel and Robert Fabian (eds),Valuing Health for Policy: An Economic Approach, Chapter 11, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 221–48, references

37. Amartya Sen (1993), ‘Capability and Well-Being’, in Martha Nussbaum and Amartya Sen (eds), The Quality of Life, Oxford, UK: Clarendon Press, 30–53

38. Martha C. Nussbaum (2003), ‘Capabilities as Fundamental Entitlements: Sen and Social Justice’, Feminist Economics, 9 (2–3), 33–59

Index



Volume II

Acknowledgements

An Introduction to both volumes by the editors appears in Volume I

PART I ANTHROPOMETRIC STUDIES
1. Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie ([1973] 1979), ‘The Conscripts of 1868: A Study of the Correlation between Geographical Mobility, Delinquency and Physical Stature, and Other Aspects of the Situation of the Young Frenchmen Called to Do Military Service in that Year’, in The Territory of the Historian, translated from the French by Ben and Siân Reynolds, Chapter 4, Brighton, UK: Harvester Press Ltd, 33–60

2. Robert W. Fogel, Stanley L. Engerman, James Trussell, Roderick Floud, Clayne L. Pope and Larry T. Wimmer (1978), ‘The Economics of Mortality in North America, 1650–1910: A Description of a Research Project’, Historical Methods, 11 (2), Spring, 75–108

3. Robert William Fogel (1993), ‘New Sources and New Techniques for the Study of Secular Trends in Nutritional Status, Health, Mortality, and the Process of Aging’, Historical Methods, 26 (1), Winter, 5–43

4. Robert A. Margo and Richard H. Steckel (1982), ‘The Heights of American Slaves: New Evidence on Slave Nutrition and Health’, Social Science History, 6 (4), Fall, 516–38

5. Kenneth L. Sokoloff and Georgia C. Villaflor (1982), ‘The Early Achievement of Modern Stature in America’, Social Science History, 6 (4), Fall, 453 81

6. John Komlos (1987), ‘The Height and Weight of West Point Cadets: Dietary Change in Antebellum America’, Journal of Economic History, XLVII (4), December, 897–927

7. Joseph M. Prince and Richard H. Steckel (2003), ‘Nutritional Success on the Great Plains: Nineteenth-Century Equestrian Nomads’, Journal of Interdisciplinary History, XXXIII (3), Winter, 353–84

8. Lars G. Sandberg and Richard H. Steckel (1980), ‘Soldier, Soldier, What Made You Grow so Tall? A Study of Height, Health, and Nutrition in Sweden, 1720–1881’, Economy and History, XXIII (2), 91–105

9. Roderick Floud and Kenneth W. Wachter (1982), ‘Poverty and Physical Stature: Evidence on the Standard of Living of London Boys 1770–1870’, Social Science History, 6 (4), Fall, 422–52

10. Roderick Floud (1998), ‘Height, Weight and Body Mass of the British Population since 1820’, NBER Working Paper Series on Historical Factors in Long Run Growth, Historical Paper 108, i, ii, 3–38, figures, 39–44

11. John Komlos (2003), ‘An Anthropometric History of Early-Modern France’, European Review of Economic History, 7 (2), August, 159–89

12. John Komlos (1985), ‘Stature and Nutrition in the Habsburg Monarchy: The Standard of Living and Economic Development in the Eighteenth Century’, American Historical Review, 90 (5), December 1149–61

13. Jörg Baten (2001), ‘Climate, Grain Production and Nutritional Status in Southern Germany during the XVIIIth Century’, Journal of European Economic History, 30 (1), Spring, 9–47

14. Brian A’Hearn (2003), ‘Anthropometric Evidence on Living Standards in Northern Italy, 1730–1860’, Journal of Economic History, 63 (2), June, 351–81

15. José M. Martínez Carrión (1994), ‘Stature, Welfare, and Economic Growth in Nineteenth-Century Spain: The Case of Murcia’, in John Komlos (ed.), Stature, Living Standards and Economic Development: Essays in Anthropometric History, Chapter 5, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press,
76–89, bibliography

PART II HEIGHT, WEIGHT AND MORTALITY
16. T.J. Cole (2003), ‘The Secular Trend in Human Physical Growth: A Biological View’, Economics and Human Biology, 1 (2), June, 161–8

17. Richard H. Steckel (1983), ‘Height and Per Capita Income’, Historical Methods, 16 (1), Winter, 1–7

18. Roderick Floud (1994), ‘The Heights of Europeans since 1750: A New Source for European Economic History’, in John Komlos (ed.), Stature, Living Standards, and Economic Development: Essays in Anthropometric History, Chapter 1, Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 9–24

19. L.H. Schmitt and G.A. Harrison (1988), ‘Patterns in the Within-Population Variability of Stature and Weight’, Annals of Human Biology, 15 (5), 353 64

20 . Dora L. Costa (1993), ‘Height, Weight, Wartime Stress, and Older Age Mortality: Evidence from the Union Army Records’, Explorations in Economic History, 30, 424–49

21. Timothy Cuff (1993), ‘The Body Mass Index Values of Mid-Nineteenth-Century West Point Cadets: A Theoretical Application of Waaler’s Curves to a Historical Population’, Historical Methods, 26 (4), Fall, 171–82

22. George Alter (2004), ‘Height, Frailty, and the Standard of Living: Modelling the Effects of Diet and Disease on Declining Mortality and Increasing Height’, Population Studies, 58 (3), 265–79

23. Thomas T. Samaras, Harold Elrick, and Lowell H. Storms (2003), ‘Is Height Related to Longevity?’, Life Sciences, 72 (16), March, 1781–802

PART III ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL IMPLICATIONS OF HEALTH CHANGES
24. James F. Fries (1980), ‘Aging, Natural Death, and the Compression of Morbidity’, New England Journal of Medicine, 303 (3), July, 130–35

25. Robert W. Fogel (1994), ‘Economic Growth, Population Theory, and Physiology: The Bearing of Long-Term Processes on the Making of Economic Policy’, American Economic Review, 84 (3), June, 369–95

26. Robert W. Fogel and Dora L. Costa (1997), ‘A Theory of Technophysio Evolution, with some Implications for Forecasting Population, Health Care Costs, and Pension Costs’, Demography, 34 (1), February, 49–66

27. Christopher J.L. Murray and Alan D. Lopez (1997), ‘Mortality by Cause for Eight Regions of the World: Global Burden of Disease Study’, The Lancet, 349 (9061), May, 1269–76

28. Christopher J.L. Murray and Alan D. Lopez (1997), ‘Regional Patterns of Disability-Free Life Expectancy and Disability-Adjusted Life Expectancy: Global Burden of Disease Study’, The Lancet, 349 (9062), May, 1347–52

29. Christopher J.L. Murray and Alan D. Lopez (1997), ‘Global Mortality, Disability, and the Contribution of Risk Factors: Global Burden of Disease Study’, The Lancet, 349 (9063), May, 1436–42

30. Christopher J.L. Murray and Alan D. Lopez (1997), ‘Alternative Projections of Mortality and Disability by Cause 1990–2020: Global Burden of Disease Study’, The Lancet, 349 (9064), May, 1498–504

31. Theodore W. Schultz (1961), ‘Investment in Human Capital’, American Economic Review, LI (1), March, 1–17

32. John Strauss and Duncan Thomas (1998), ‘Health, Nutrition, and Economic Development’, Journal of Economic Literature, XXXVI (2), June, 766–817

33. Anne Case, Darren Lubotsky, and Christina Paxson (2002), ‘Economic Status and Health in Childhood: The Origins of the Gradient’, American Economic Review, 92 (5), December, 1308–34

34. T. Paul Schultz (2002), ‘Wage Gains Associated with Height as a Form of Health Human Capital’, American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings, 92 (2), May, 349–53

35. Anne Case and Christina Paxson (2008), ‘Stature and Status: Height, Ability, and Labor Market Outcomes’, Journal of Political
Economy, 116 (3), June, 499–532

36. Chulhee Lee (2005), ‘Wealth Accumulation and the Health of Union Army Veterans, 1860–1870’, Journal of Economic History,
65 (2), June, 352–85

37. Ann Bartel and Paul Taubman (1979), ‘Health and Labor Market Success: The Role of Various Diseases’, Review of Economics and Statistics, LXI (1), February, 1–8

38. Suchit Arora (2001), ‘Health, Human Productivity, and Long-Term Economic Growth’, Journal of Economic History, 61 (3), September, 699–749

Index
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