- The Oxford Handbook of Economics and Human Biology
- About the Editors
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Growth Faltering in the First Thousand Days after Conception and Catch-up Growth
- Biological Measures of Well-Being
- Crisis and Human Biology
- The Biological Standard of Living in Europe from the Late Iron Age to the Little Ice Age
- Econometrics of Economics and Human Biology
- Body Mass Index Through Time: Explanations, Evidence, and Future Directions
- Health, Body Weight, and Obesity
- Inequality and Heights
- Adult Weight and Height of Native Populations
- Slave Heights
- Female Heights and Economic Development: Theory and Evidence
- The Impact of Socioeconomic Inequality on Children’s Health and Well-Being
- Growth and Maturation of Children and Adolescents: Variability Due to Genetic and Environmental Factors
- Global Perspectives on Economics and Biology
- Global BMI Trends
- Poverty and Obesity in Developed Countries
- Biomarkers as Inputs
- How Genetics Can Inform Health Economics
- Twins Studies in Economics
- Public and Private Returns to Investing in Nutrition
- The Double Burden of Malnutrition
- Biological Health Risks and Economic Development
- Obesity and Income Inequality in OECD Countries
- Height and Wages
- Why Do People with Higher Body Weight Earn Lower Wages?
- Wealth and Weight
- Family Economics and Obesity
- Obesity and Welfare Regimes
- Children’s Anthropometrics and Later Disease Incidence
- Birth Weight as an Indicator of Human Welfare
- A Pound of Flesh: The Use of Birthweight as a Measure of Human Capital Endowment in Economics Research
- Neuroeconomics: A Flourishing Field
- The African Enigma: The Mystery of Tall African Adults Despite Low National Incomes Revisited
- East Asia on the Rise: The Anthropometric History of China, Japan, and Korea
- Economics and Human Biology in Latin America
- Racial Differences in Health in the United States: A Long-Run Perspective
- Antebellum Puzzle: The Decline in Heights at the Onset of Modern Economic Growth
- The Anthropometric History of the Mediterranean World
- Index
Abstract and Keywords
African adult populations are remarkably tall for the low income levels that prevail at the country level. The average African woman is about 158.5 cm tall, whereas the low gross domestic product per capita would lead us to expect a mean height more similar to the shortest populations in the world, about 4 cm shorter. This is the case in spite of the fact that indicators of socioeconomic status and height are positively correlated within each country. The chapter also shows that the physical stature of African children fit well into the global income–height relationship. Hence, we conclude that the anomaly in the income–height nexus at country level appears to originate between childhood and adulthood. We present evidence for considerable catch-up growth involving entire populations. We discuss possible reasons for this catch-up growth including genetics, and, above all, better nutrition and health conditions during adolescence.
Keywords: nutritional status, heights, income, catch-up growth, Africa
Alexander Moradi is a senior lecturer in economics at the University of Sussex
Kalle Hirvonen, PhD, is a development economist and a research fellow at the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI). He is based in Addis Ababa in Ethiopia where he works in the Ethiopia Strategy Support Programme and IFPRI’s Development Strategy and Governance division.
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- The Oxford Handbook of Economics and Human Biology
- About the Editors
- Contributors
- Introduction
- Growth Faltering in the First Thousand Days after Conception and Catch-up Growth
- Biological Measures of Well-Being
- Crisis and Human Biology
- The Biological Standard of Living in Europe from the Late Iron Age to the Little Ice Age
- Econometrics of Economics and Human Biology
- Body Mass Index Through Time: Explanations, Evidence, and Future Directions
- Health, Body Weight, and Obesity
- Inequality and Heights
- Adult Weight and Height of Native Populations
- Slave Heights
- Female Heights and Economic Development: Theory and Evidence
- The Impact of Socioeconomic Inequality on Children’s Health and Well-Being
- Growth and Maturation of Children and Adolescents: Variability Due to Genetic and Environmental Factors
- Global Perspectives on Economics and Biology
- Global BMI Trends
- Poverty and Obesity in Developed Countries
- Biomarkers as Inputs
- How Genetics Can Inform Health Economics
- Twins Studies in Economics
- Public and Private Returns to Investing in Nutrition
- The Double Burden of Malnutrition
- Biological Health Risks and Economic Development
- Obesity and Income Inequality in OECD Countries
- Height and Wages
- Why Do People with Higher Body Weight Earn Lower Wages?
- Wealth and Weight
- Family Economics and Obesity
- Obesity and Welfare Regimes
- Children’s Anthropometrics and Later Disease Incidence
- Birth Weight as an Indicator of Human Welfare
- A Pound of Flesh: The Use of Birthweight as a Measure of Human Capital Endowment in Economics Research
- Neuroeconomics: A Flourishing Field
- The African Enigma: The Mystery of Tall African Adults Despite Low National Incomes Revisited
- East Asia on the Rise: The Anthropometric History of China, Japan, and Korea
- Economics and Human Biology in Latin America
- Racial Differences in Health in the United States: A Long-Run Perspective
- Antebellum Puzzle: The Decline in Heights at the Onset of Modern Economic Growth
- The Anthropometric History of the Mediterranean World
- Index
