TY - JOUR AU - Steckel, Richard H TI - Heights and Human Welfare: Recent Developments and New Directions JF - National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper Series VL - No. 14536 PY - 2008 Y2 - December 2008 DO - 10.3386/w14536 UR - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14536 L1 - http://www.nber.org/papers/w14536.pdf N1 - Author contact info: Richard H. Steckel Department of Economics Ohio State University 410 Arps Hall, 1945 North High Street Columbus, OH 43210-1172 Tel: 614/292-5008 E-Mail: steckel.1@osu.edu AB - 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. ER -