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Bones of Contention: The Political Economy of Height Inequality

Carles Boix
Princeton University - Department of Politics and Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs

Frances McCall Rosenbluth
Yale University - Department of Political Science

July 1, 2007

Abstract:
A growing literature in politics and economics employs measures of the height and health condition of human beings to gauge the level of well-being and income across societies and over time. We use both archeological data of skeletal remains and actual records of heights (collected by armies, anthropologists) to measure the degree of variance in the distribution of heights, and therefore, the degree of inequality since prehistoric times. We find that the type of economy and the type of political institutions strongly covary with our measures of inequality.

Keywords: height, inequality, economic development

JEL Classifications: D70, I11, I31, 040

Working Paper Series

Date posted: March 10, 2009 ; Last revised: March 16, 2009

Suggested Citation

Boix, Carles and Rosenbluth, Frances McCall, Bones of Contention: The Political Economy of Height Inequality (July 1, 2007). Available at SSRN: http://ssrn.com/abstract=1352626

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Contact Information

Carles Boix (Contact Author) Princeton University - Department of Politics and Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs ( email ) Corwin Hall Princeton, NJ 08544-1012 United States 609-258-2139 (Phone)
Frances McCall Rosenbluth Yale University - Department of Political Science ( email ) Box 208269 New Haven, DC 06520-8269 United States 203-432-5256 (Phone)