@techreport{NBERw14536,
 title = "Heights and Human Welfare: Recent Developments and New Directions",
 author = "Richard H. Steckel",
 institution = "National Bureau of Economic Research",
 type = "Working Paper",
 series = "Working Paper Series",
 number = "14536",
 year = "2008",
 month = "December",
 URL = "http://www.nber.org/papers/w14536",
 abstract = {Since 1995 approximately 325 publications on stature have appeared in the social sciences, which is more than a four-fold increase in the rate of production relative to the period 1977-1994.  The expansion occurred in several areas, but especially within economics, indicating that heights are now widely accepted as a useful measure of human welfare.  Much of this new work extends beyond the traditional bailiwick of anthropometric history, including biological welfare during economic and political crises; anthropometric influences on wages; the welfare of women relative to men in the contemporary world; the fetal origins hypothesis; and inequality in the developing world.  The approach has also expanded within economic history to consider the consequences of empire for colonials; the health of populations lacking traditional measures of social performance; the consequences of smallpox; and very long-term trends in health.  Much has also been learned about socioeconomic aspects of inequality, the welfare implications of industrialization, and socioeconomic determinants of stature.  The last is a work in progress and one may doubt whether sufficient longitudinal evidence will become available for a complete understanding of the variety and strength of pathways that affect human physical growth.},
}