The biological standard of living and the "Antebellum Puzzle"

An apparent contradiction: Stunting in a booming economy?

Dossier / Travail de Séminaire , 2007 , 13 Pages , Note: 1,7

Economie politique - Microéconomie, en général

Imagine someone came up to you and asked you: “name three aspects that in
your opinion are of great significance to a high standard of living”, what would you say? What determines your perspective towards the standard of living? Do you give priority to income and wealth? To personal freedom? Or to health? With regard to our today’s society, where most products are being invented in order to make our lives more comfortable, it is interesting how the standard of living can be measured best.
The most widely adopted measurement of the material standard of living is
GDP per capita adjusted for changes in the price level, called inflation or deflation.
Usually, one might guess that through a higher GDP per capita, the income and the personal wealth rises and therefore the standard of living also increases. This nevertheless does not reflect the distribution of income, or the environment that affects health and safety. Moreover, crime, pollution, and congestion – which are for many people negatively correlated with their quality of life – are neither considered.
GDP per capita therefore just measures the material standard of living, but a lot of other factors are being ignored. That is the reason why the biological rather than the material standard of living should be contemplated in terms of “measuring” the quality of life.
A second possibility to measure the standard of living is the HDI (Human
Development Index). It consists of 1/3 GDP per capita, 1/3 life expectancy index, plus 1/3 education index. Here, the standard of living does not solely depend on material assets, but also on life expectancy which contains health and the environment and education. However, important factors for the wellbeing like the political system in the country or human rights are missing.
For the first time in the 1970s, height was used as a measurement for the
standard of living. At first this might seem strange, because one thinks that height depends above all on genes. This is certainly right, but we are not taking a look at the height of individuals but of whole populations.

Inhaltsverzeichnis

• Introduction
• Rising GDP per capita – decreasing heights
• Alteration in the epidemiological environment
  • Immigration wave
• Population growth and food production
  • Price explosion
  • Substitution of food
  • Income as a factor determining height
  • Urbanization and transportation
• Conclusion
• Work cited
• Plagiarism

Zielsetzung und Themenschwerpunkte

This paper aims to investigate the "Antebellum Puzzle" - the phenomenon of decreasing average height in the United States during the period of 1830-1860, despite a booming economy and rising GDP per capita. The paper explores various factors that might have contributed to this apparent contradiction, focusing on the impact of dietary changes, disease environment, and population growth.

• The "Antebellum Puzzle" and its implications for understanding the relationship between economic growth and biological standard of living.
• The role of dietary changes, including food prices, food substitution, and income as a factor determining height.
• The impact of the epidemiological environment, including disease outbreaks and immigration.
• The influence of population growth and urbanization on food production and distribution.
• The significance of height as a proxy for the biological standard of living.

Zusammenfassung der Kapitel

The introduction sets the stage by discussing the concept of standard of living and its measurement, highlighting the limitations of GDP per capita and introducing the biological standard of living as a more comprehensive indicator. Height is presented as a key proxy for the biological standard of living, reflecting factors such as nutrition, disease environment, and overall well-being.

The chapter on "Rising GDP per capita – decreasing heights" introduces the "Antebellum Puzzle" - the decline in average height during a period of economic growth in the United States. This apparent contradiction sets the stage for the subsequent exploration of potential causes.

The chapter on "Alteration in the epidemiological environment" examines the role of disease in explaining the height decline. While disease outbreaks are acknowledged, the argument is presented that they are unlikely to have been the sole or primary cause due to the widespread nature of the height decline and the episodic nature of epidemics. The chapter also discusses the impact of immigration, noting that immigrants were generally shorter than native-born Americans due to lower nutritional standards.

Schlüsselwörter

The keywords and focus themes of the text include the "Antebellum Puzzle", biological standard of living, height as a proxy for well-being, dietary changes, food prices, food substitution, income, disease environment, immigration, population growth, urbanization, and economic development in the United States.

• Université: LMU Munich (VWL Lehrstuhl)
• Cours: Strategic Factors in the Economic Development of the United States
• Note: 1,7
• Auteur: M.A. Susanne Schalch (Auteur)
• Année de publication: 2007
• Pages: 13
• N° de catalogue: V114787
• ISBN (ebook): 9783640168903
• ISBN (Livre): 9783640171866
• Langue: anglais
• mots-clé: Antebellum, Puzzle, Strategic, Factorsin, Economic, Development, United, States