Jörg Baten

An anthropometric history of the World, 1810-1980: did migration and globalization influence country trends?

Recently, a method to measure inequality has been proposed that is based on anthropometric indicators. Baten (1999, 2000) argued that the coefficient of variation of human stature is correlated with overall inequality in a society, and that it can be used as indicator, especially where income inequality measures are lacking. This correlation has been confirmed in further analyses, for example by Pradhan et al. (2003), Moradi and Baten (2005), Sunder (2003), Guntupalli and Baten (2006), Baten (2000a), Blum (2009), Baten et al. (2009). The idea behind is that heights reflect nutritional conditions during early childhood and youth. As wealthier people have better access to food and shelter and less illnesses, they tend to be taller than the poorer part of the population. Hence, the variation of height of a certain cohort may be indicative of income distribution during the decade of their birth. 1

The global status of economic history

ABSTRACT How many economic historians are there? In which countries or regions are they concentrated? What can we learn from the number of economic historians participating in world congresses, and which determinants encourage or limit participation? Using an e-mail questionnaire, we analyse the disciplines global status. Overall 59 countries were surveyed in this overview. Although the majority of economic historians are concentrated in rich countries, developing regions do have a substantial number of practitioners. Cross fertilisation between development studies, development economics and economic history is bearing increasing fruit. It is therefore important to strengthen the discipline of economic history in those regions where development is the core issue.