The Measure of Man and Older Age Mortality
Evidence from the Gould Sample
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5044539 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Dora L Costa (0000-0002-0874-7366, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2004 |
| Volume | 64 |
| Issue | 1 |
| Pages | 1-23 |
| Publication date | 2004-03-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Economic History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-0507 • E-ISSN: 1471-6372 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s002205070400258x |
| OpenAlex | W2891922139 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 27 |
| References cited | 31 |
This article documents differences in body size between white, black, and Indian mid-nineteenth-century American men and investigates the socioeconomic and demographic determinants of frame size using a unique data set of Civil War soldiers. It finds that over time men have grown taller and heavier and have relatively less abdominal fat, implying that "modern" chronic diseases such as ischemic heart disease were common in the past. Changes in frame size explain almost half of the mortality decline among white men between 1914 and 1988 and predict even sharper declines in older age mortality between 1988 and 2022
Biology · Population · Socioeconomic status · Sociology · White (mutation) · Climate Change and Health Impacts · Demography · Medicine · Gerontology
Black and White Body Mass Index Values in Developing Nineteenth Century Nebraska
Black and White Body Mass Index Values in Nineteenth Century Developing Philadelphia County
Body Mass Index Values in the Gentry and Peasantry in Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Century Poland
The relationship between 19th century BMIs and family size
Racial differences in body mass indices of men imprisoned in 19th Century Texas
Biology, Complexion, and Socioeconomic Status
Body mass index values of conscripts in the Polish lands under Prussian rule in the late 19th and early 20th centuries
The bigger the healthier
The great transformation
The biological standard of living and mortality in Central Italy at the beginning of the 19th century
Severe prenatal shocks and adolescent health
The association between male height and lifespan in rural Spain, birth cohorts 1835-1939
Height and body mass index values of nineteenth-century New York legislators
A quantile approach to the demographic, residential, and socioeconomic effects on 19th-century African-American body mass index values
Standing on the shoulders of giants. Paternal life course effects on son’s heights outcomes in the Netherlands 1820-1960
Blood and bone
Early-life conditions, height and mortality of nineteenth-century Dutch vagrant women
Medicare Cost Effects of Recent U.S. Disability Trends in the Elderly
The transition to post‐industrial BMI values among US children
The use of quantile methods in economic history
Economic, Demographic, and Anthropometric Correlates of First Marriage in the Mid-Nineteenth-Century United States
Historical height measurement consistency
Measuring misery
Heights and human welfare
Grow fast, die young? The causes and consequences of adult height and prolonged growth in nineteenth century Maastricht
Long-Term Trends in Life Expectancy and Active Life Expectancy in the United States
Early-life conditions and adult mortality decline in Dutch cohorts born 1812-1921
Height, Health and History
The Fourth Stage of the Epidemiologic Transition
The Epidemiologic Transition
New Sources and New Techniques for the Study of Secular Trends in Nutritional Status, Health, Mortality, and the Process of Aging
Changing chronic disease rates and longterm declines in functional limitation among older men
Understanding the twentieth-century decline in chronic conditions among older men
A theory of technophysio evolution, with some implications for forecasting population, health care costs, and pension costs
A Peculiar Population
Height, Weight, Wartime Stress, and Older Age Mortality
The poor at birth
Tallest in the World
Health and Labor Force Participation of Older Men, 1900-1991
| Unique citing works | 27 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 1,29 |
| Citation span | 2005 - 2024 (20) |
| Citation velocity | recent |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 23 |