Heights, Calories and Welfare: A New Perspective on Italian Industrialization, 1854–191

License
Cadmus Permanent Link
Full-text via DOI
ISBN
ISSN
Issue Date
Type of Publication
Keyword(s)
LC Subject Heading
Other Topic(s)
EUI Research Cluster(s)
Initial version
Published version
Succeeding version
Preceding version
Published version part
Earlier different version
Initial format
Author(s)
Citation
Economics and Human Biology, 2003, 1, 3, 289-308.
Cite
FEDERICO, Giovanni, Heights, Calories and Welfare: A New Perspective on Italian Industrialization, 1854–191, Economics and Human Biology, 2003, 1, 3, 289-308. - https://hdl.handle.net/1814/4838
Abstract
The height of Italian conscripts was increasing throughout the second half of the 19th century due primarily to an increases in food intake, but also to an improvement in sanitary conditions, and diffusion of primary schooling. The increase in food intake reflects a growth in agricultural production, contrary to the standard series of national accounts. We infer from an improved estimate of agricultural output, and from the increases in physical stature that the timing of the onset of modern economic growth in Italy was substantially different from the conventional Gerschenkronian perspective.