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Chapter 8 - Malnutrition: Global Economic Losses Attributable to Malnutrition 1900–2000 and Projections to 2050

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 June 2014

By
Sue Horton  and
Richard H. Steckel
Edited by
Bjørn Lomborg
Sue Horton
Affiliation:
Balsillie School of the University of Waterloo
Richard H. Steckel
Affiliation:
Ohio State University
Bjørn Lomborg
Affiliation:
Copenhagen Business School
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Summary

Introduction

The two-way link between improved nutrition and higher income is well known. Higher income allows people to obtain a more varied and nutritious diet. Higher income is associated with improved sanitation and health, such that there is less loss of nutrients associated with infection. More maternal education (associated with higher income) is associated with better infant feeding practices, and mothers who are better able to obtain care for themselves during pregnancy. Of course, higher income also can bring with it an overly sedentary lifestyle, excess consumption of fat and added sugar, and associated risks of non-communicable disease. However in this chapter we focus on the beneficial aspects of income for nutrition because a large share of the world’s population was stunted during much or most of the twentieth century.

Similarly, better nutrition is associated with higher productivity. Better-nourished individuals are more productive in physical labor, because of higher stamina, higher maximal work output, etc. Better-nourished infants and young children have improved cognitive skills, which translate to higher productivity as adults. We use the results from micro-level data to disentangle the effect of nutrition on productivity from that of income on nutrition, making broad estimates over the past century for various world regions.

Type
Chapter
Information
How Much Have Global Problems Cost the World?
A Scorecard from 1900 to 2050
 , pp. 247 - 272
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2013

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