646 research outputs found
The Cambridge economic history of modern Britain: volume III: structural change and growth 1939-2000
No full textThe Cambridge Economic History of Modern Britain provides a readable and comprehensive survey of the economic history of Britain since industrialisation, based on the most up-to-date research into the subject. Roderick Floud and Paul Johnson have assembled a team of fifty leading scholars from around the world to produce a set of volumes which are both a lucid textbook for students and an authoritative guide to the subject. The text pays particular attention to the explanation of quantitative and theory-based enquiry, but all forms of historical research are used to provide a comprehensive account of the development of the British economy. Volume III covers the period 1939–2000, when Britain adjusted to a decline in manufacturing, an expansion of the service economy, and a repositioning of external economic activity towards Europe. It will be an invaluable guide for undergraduate and postgraduate students in history, economics and other social sciences
Health, height and welfare: Britain 1700-1980
No full textThis paper reviews the evidence regarding the main trends in the height of the British population since the early eighteenth centur
The changing body: technophysio evolution in Britain, Europe and the United States since 1700. Our changing bodies: 300 years of technophysio evolution
No full textDid smallpox reduce height?: stature and the standard of living in London, 1770-1873.
Get PDFIn this paper, we re-examine the effect of smallpox on the height attained by those who suffered from this disease. To this end, we analyse a dataset assembled by Floud, Wachter and Gregory on the height of recruits into the Marine Society, 1770-1873. Using both time series and cross-sectional analysis, we show that smallpox was indeed an important determinant of height: those who had suffered from smallpox were significantly shorter. This suggests that the increase in heights documented by Floud et al. may be explained not just by increased nutritional intake, but also by the eradication of smallpox.
Health, mortality and the standard of living : introduction
No full textThis chapter introduces a two-volume collection of seminal essays dealing with different aspects of the economic and social history of health and welfare. The organisation of the chapter corresponds to that of the two volumes. After a brief introductory section, it includes sections on the following topics: the decline of mortality; factors associated with mortality change; early-life origins of adult disease; living standards, income and wealth; anthropometric studies; height, weight and mortality; and the economic and social implications of health changes
The changing body: health, nutrition and human development in the western world since 1700
No full textHumans have become much taller and heavier, and experience healthier and longer lives than ever before in human history. However it is only recently that historians, economists, human biologists and demographers have linked the changing size, shape and capability of the human body to economic and demographic change. This fascinating and groundbreaking book presents an accessible introduction to the field of anthropometric history, surveying the causes and consequences of changes in health and mortality, diet and the disease environment in Europe and the United States since 1700. It examines how we define and measure health and nutrition as well as key issues such as whether increased longevity contributes to greater productivity or, instead, imposes burdens on society through the higher costs of healthcare and pensions. The result is a major contribution to economic and social history with important implications for today's developing world and the health trends of the futur
On English Pygmies and Giants: the Physical Stature of English Youth in the late-18th and early-19th Centuries
Get PDFThe physical stature of lower- and upper-class English youth are compared to one another and to their European and North American counterparts. The height gap between the rich and poor was the greatest in England, reaching 22 cm at age 16. The poverty-stricken English children were shorter for their age than any other European or North American group so far discovered, while the English rich were the tallest in their time: only 2.5 cm shorter than today’s US standards. Height of the poor declined in the late-18th century, and again in the 1830s and 1840s conforming to the general European pattern, while the height of the wealthy tended rather to increase until the 1840s and then levelled off
On English Pygmies and Giants: the Physical Stature of English Youth in the late-18th and early-19th Centuries
Get PDFThe physical stature of lower- and upper-class English youth are compared to one another and to their European and North American counterparts. The height gap between the rich and poor was the greatest in England, reaching 22 cm at age 16. The poverty-stricken English children were shorter for their age than any other European or North American group so far discovered, while the English rich were the tallest in their time: only 2.5 cm shorter than today’s US standards. Height of the poor declined in the late-18th century, and again in the 1830s and 1840s conforming to the general European pattern, while the height of the wealthy tended rather to increase until the 1840s and then levelled off.Height; Biological Standard of Living; Anthropometry; Inequality; Industrial Revolution
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