Health and Welfare during Industrialization

by Richard H. Steckel

• ISBN13: 9780226771564
• ISBN10: 0226771563
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2008-04-01
• Publisher: University of Chicago Press

Summary

In this unique anthology, Steckel and Floud coordinate ten essays that bring a new perspective to inquiry about standard of living in modern times. These papers are arranged for international comparison, and they individually examine evidence of health and welfare during and after industrialization in eight countries: the United States, Britain, Sweden, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Japan, and Australia. The essays incorporate several indicators of quality of life, especially real per capita income and health, but also real wages, education, and inequality. And while the authors use traditional measures of health such as life expectancy and mortality rates, this volume stands alone in its extensive use of new "anthropometric" data--information about height, weight and body mass index that indicates changes in nations' well-being. Consequently, Health and Welfare during Industrialization signals a new direction in economic history, a broader and more thorough understanding of what constitutes standard of living.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	ix
Introduction	1	(16)
Richard H. Steckel
Roderick Floud
1. The Standard of Living Debate in International Perspective: Measures and Indicators	17	(30)
Stanley L. Engerman
2. Long-Term Trends in Health, Welfare, and Economic Growth in the United States	47	(44)
Dora L. Costa
Richard H. Steckel
3. Health, Height, and Welfare: Britain, 1700-1980	91	(36)
Roderick Floud
Bernard Harris
4. Was Industrialization Hazardous to Your Health? Not in Sweden!	127	(34)
Lars G. Sandberg
Richard H. Steckel
5. Economic Welfare and Physical Well-Being in France, 1750-1990	161	(40)
David R. Weir
6. Health and Welfare of Women in the United Kingdom, 1785-1920	201	(50)
Paul Johnson
Stephen Nicholas
7. Differential Structure, Differential Health: Industrialization in Japan, 1868-1940	251	(34)
Gail Honda
8. Heights and Living Standards in Germany, 1850-1939: The Case of Wurttemberg	285	(46)
Sophia Twarog
9. Paradoxes of Modernization and Material Well-Being in the Netherlands during the Nineteenth Century	331	(48)
J. W. Drukker
Vincent Tassenaar
10. Height, Health, and Economic Growth in Australia, 1860-1940	379	(44)
Greg Whitwell
Christine de Souza
Stephen Nicholas
11. Conclusions	423	(28)
Richard H. Steckel
Roderick Floud
Contributors	451	(2)
Author Index	453	(8)
Subject Index	461