Body Mass Index Through Time

Measuring the health of a population during the process of economic development is a principle objective in health economics and economic history, and the body mass index (BMI) plays an important role in such studies. Using data on convicts, the author finds that African American BMIs were historically greater than that of whites by 5%. In addition, the differences between average BMIs and obesity narrowed between the two ethnic groups in the late 20th and early 21st centuries, and both are now much more likely to be obese than they were earlier. About 1% of males in the 19th century were obese, whereas between 35% and 40% of their modern counterparts are obese. Whereas greater BMIs were once more common among physically active workers, obesity is now more common for workers in sedentary occupations. Explanations are considered for the documented increases in BMIs and obesity.

Introduction

The Oxford Handbook of Economics and Human Biology introduces the scholarly community to the relationship between economic processes and human biology. A society’s biological well-being is important if one is to understand numerous aspects of political and economic developments: the outbreak of revolutions; the effect of industrialization and modernization on a population’s well-being; the demographic transition; and changes in the degree of social inequality by gender, social class, and geographic location. The contributions in this Handbook examine the various ways the economy affects human biological outcomes and, reciprocally, the impact of the latter on the former both over time and cross-sectionally. Another focus is on biological measures as inputs, such as how height and weight affect labor market outcomes and the role of genetic markers on economic variables. A third purpose is to introduce the reader to developmental aspects and policy, particularly correlates of malnutrition and poverty across the world.

The Impact of Socioeconomic Inequality on Children’s Health and Well-Being

Child well-being is important for lifelong health and well-being. Although there is evidence linking social determinants of health (eg, relative poverty and income inequality) to child well-being, social and public health policy tends to focus on interventions to mitigate their effects, rather than remove the root causes. Children born into socioeconomically disadvantaged families suffer worse child well-being and its lifelong implications, in all societies, worldwide. However, some societies are able to mitigate these inequalities and create better average child well-being and smaller gaps between rich and poor children. This success has less to do with specific welfare policies or targeted interventions for poor children than to a societal commitment to greater equality.

Slave Heights

The new anthropometric history, which blends human biology with history and economics in a form understandable to a general audience, began in the mid-1970s with the study of important questions about American slavery, such as the age of slaves at menarche and their first birth, stature attained relative to other contemporary populations, time trends in stature, and the relationship between mortality and physical growth in childhood. This chapter updates the literature based on refinements in the methodology and on substantially more evidence from slave manifests. Important new conclusions concern childbearing at young ages, adequacy of the diet, the profitability of childhood stunting and recovery, and the cognitive and socioeconomic consequences of severe early childhood deprivation.

Economics and Human Biology in Latin America

This chapter examines scholarship in the field of economics and human biology from the pre-Columbian era to the present in the context of Latin America. This literature’s main themes consider the evolution of living standards in the very long run to shed light on the advantages and disadvantages of the human social development and organization process. The author examines how, through historical anthropometric studies, one can assess changes in biological standards of living to understand how they were affected by economic development in different Latin American regions. These studies confirm that anthropometric indicators are a proxy of living standards and inequality. This literature also adds to the comprehension of synergies between health and nutrition indicators and economic performance among different population groups; it shows that findings generated from this research can lead to public policy recommendations to address growing challenges in public health, such as obesity and diabetes.

Econometrics of Economics and Human Biology

Many questions arising in research in economics and human biology cannot be studied through experimental manipulation, making the ideal randomized controlled trial (RCT) infeasible. Often the only data available are observational, and the researcher must confront the challenge of the nonrandom choice of the independent variable, known as the self-selection problem. This chapter describes this selection bias and discusses the central econometric techniques that economists have in their arsenal to guide causal inference with nonexperimental data, with a particular focus on implementation and key identifying assumptions underlying each empirical strategy. Applications are drawn upon in which this selection bias is addressed. Also included in the chapter is a brief discussion of issues relating to treatment heterogeneity and methods that allow the causal effect to vary among persons, either by unobserved or observed characteristics, which may help reveal in which subsets of the population the estimable or interesting causal effect applies.

The Biological Standard of Living in Europe from the Late Iron Age to the Little Ice Age

This chapter documents human development in the very long run on the basis of anthropometric indicators used as a proxy measure of the biological standard of living. The author explores the trend in height of European populations, controlling for aspects of natural, economic, and social change. Findings include that there was a small increase in overall mean height in Europe from the 8th century BCE to the 18th century CE (c. 0.5 cm per millennium on average for the total dataset), with regional and temporal variations, including particular low points during Roman ascendancy (1st century BCE in Mediterranean Europe, 8 cm below the predicted mean) and the Little Ice Age (17th century CE in North-Eastern Europe, 7 cm below the predicted mean). Significant explanatory variables for these trends are the availability of dairy products, the share of the population living in urban areas, and the impact of the Roman Empire.

Family Economics and Obesity

Obesity deserves attention by economists because it has moved to the forefront of public health concerns worldwide and because it is a health condition that defies the general economic pattern that economic prosperity is associated with better health. The economic theory of household behavior and accompanying empirical evidence both suggest that married couples are able to reap the rewards of more efficient investment in health. Obesity, however, is an important exception, with both men and women tending to gain weight following marriage. Wealthier societies should also be able to invest more effectively in child health, but the epidemic of childhood obesity in rich countries counters this trend. This essay argues that the paradoxical economics of obesity must be studied within the primary context where obesity-related decisions are made: the family. Thus, the case of obesity reveals the benefits of and challenges to obtaining a better understanding of familial health capital.

Twins Studies in Economics

This chapter describes strengths and limitations of three twins methods developed in economics: control for unobserved genetic and family background endowments using monozygotic (MZ) twins fixed effects (FE) to estimate e.g. impacts of schooling on wages, health, and other outcomes; estimation of key parameters in intrafamilial models of investment in children using MZ and dizygotic (DZ) twins; and investigation of familial responses to fertility shocks within the quantity-quality fertility model using MZs and DZs. It also describes strengths and limitations of a fourth twins method used most widely outside of economics: variance decomposition of phenotypes into genetic and environmental components to obtain heritability estimates with additive genetics, common environment and unique environment (ACE) models using MZs and DZs. The chapter concludes that the first three twins methods remain valuable for learning about important empirical parameters in economics despite development of genetic sequencing. The fourth method is less useful in economics.

How Genetics Can Inform Health Economics

This chapter reviews the main pathways through which genes can relate to health and health determinants, focusing on channels of primary interest to health economics research. Research implications and methodological considerations for using genetic data in health economics applications are also discussed, as is the potential for informing policy-making. As knowledge of the genetic architecture of outcomes and traits of interest to health economics expands, incorporating genetic data in health economics research is likely to become more fruitful, including in providing policy-relevant findings. However, identifying genetic variants and mechanisms that explain a substantial fraction of the heritability of complex human traits will take time. Meanwhile, research can continue to achieve piecewise advances in knowledge on interplays between genes and the environment in shaping health, preferences, and human capital.