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NINETEENTH CENTURY MEXICAN STATURES IN THE UNITED STATES AND THEIR RELATIONSHIP WITH INSOLATION AND VITAMIN D

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 October 2009

SCOTT ALAN CARSON
SCOTT ALAN CARSON
Affiliation:
University of Texas, Odessa, USA and University of Munich and CESifo, Germany
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Summary

The use of height data to measure living standards is now a well-established method in economics. However, there are still some populations, places and times for which the comparison across groups remains unclear. One example is 19th century Mexicans in the US. This study demonstrates that after comparing the statures of Mexicans born in Mexico and the US the primary source of the stature difference between the two groups was birth year, and the stature gap increased as the US economy developed while the Mexican economy stagnated. Moreover, the stature growth of Mexicans born in the US was related to vitamin D, and the Mexican relationship between stature and insolation was more like that of Europeans than Africans.

Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 42 , Issue 1 , January 2010 , pp. 113 - 128
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2009

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