The effects of demographics, residence and socioeconomic status on the distribution of 19th century Mexican biological living conditions

Abstract

The use of height data to measure living standards is now a well-established method in economics and the social sciences. However, there are still some populations, places, and times for which anthropometric evidence remains thin. One example is 19th century Mexicans born in Mexico and in the American West. This paper demonstrates that the statures of 19th century Mexicans born in Mexico remained approximately constant, while the statures of Mexicans born in the U.S. increased by nearly 4 cm, indicating that although the two groups shared a common genetic background, their cumulative biological living conditions differed markedly. The BMIs of Mexicans born in Mexico remained constant, and the BMIs of Mexicans born in the U.S. were high initially but rapidly converged in the late 19th century.

Acknowledgements

I appreciate helpful comments from John Komlos, Paul Hodges, Tom Maloney, Marco Sünder and Timothy Cuff. Ryan Keifer, Billy Mann and Anita Voorhies provided excellent research assistance.

Notes

1 Coatsworth (1978); Katz (1991); Haber, Stephen, “The Commitment Problem and Mexican Economic History,” in Jeffrey Bortz, and Stephen Haber (eds.), The Mexican Economy: Essays on The Economic History of Institution, Revolution and Growth, (Stanford, 2002).

2 Bogin and Keep (1998, p. 274) find that from 1870 to the present that there was no noticeable change in Latin American average stature. In a sample of Argentinean soldiers, stature growth was impressive during the tremendous Argentinean political turmoil of the 19th century (Salvatore & Baten, 1998, p. 106).

3 Bogin, Human Growth, 288; Komlos and Baten, “Anthropometric Research,” 199; Steckel, Richard H., “Stature and the Standard of Living,” Journal of Economic Literature, 30 (1995), 1910.

4 Goldstein, Demographic and Bodily Changes, 15 and 24.

5 The test for juvenile normality is complicated because juvenile heights are skewed to the right at the beginning of the growth spurt and skewed to the left at the end, a phenomenon caused by early and late maturers. Sokoloff, Kenneth and Georgia Villaflor, “Early Achievement of Modern Stature in America,” Social Science History VI (1982), 457; Fogel, Robert, Stanley Engerman, James Trussell, Roderick Floud, Clayne Pope, and Larry Wimmer, “Economics of Mortality in North America, 1650–1910: A Description of a Research Project,” Historical Methods 11, (1978), 75–108.

6 Separate models, not presented here, were run for youth and adult stature; however, differences were insufficient to warrant separate presentation.

7 In a modern study of rural Mexican populations, Villalpando et al. (pp. 21, 22 and 24) demonstrate that the height and weight of Mexican rural boys and girls were lower than their urban counterparts, due in part, to poor nutrition and poor sanitation in rural communities.

8 Gamio, Mexican Immigration, 140–146; Cardoso, Mexican Emigration, 41; Craig, Lee A., Barry Goodwin, and Thomas Grennes, “The Effect of Mechanical Refrigeration and Nutrition in the U.S.” Social Science History 28, 325–336; McWilliams, Carey, North from Mexico: The Spanish-Speaking People of the United States (Philadelphia, 1949).