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Rural Height Penalty or Socioeconomic Penalization? The Nutritional Inequality in Backward Spain

Author

Listed:
  • Antonio M. Linares-Luján

    (Faculty of Economics and Business, University de Extremadura, Avda. Elvas s/n, 06010 Badajoz, Spain)

  • Francisco M. Parejo-Moruno

    (Faculty of Economics and Business, University de Extremadura, Avda. Elvas s/n, 06010 Badajoz, Spain)

Abstract
This article studies the evolution of nutritional inequality, measured through the male adult height, in one of the poorest regions of Spain, in southwestern Europe: Extremadura. With a wide sample of statures of recruits born between 1855 and 1979, conscripted between 1876 and 2000, the research delves into the urban-rural height gap using coefficients of variation, tests of equality of means and proxy variables of a socioeconomic nature. The results of the analysis reveal that the strong anthropometric growth that Extremadura experienced since the last decades of the 19th century was accompanied by a less internal inequality. The lower heterogeneity did not eliminate, however, the urban-rural height gap during the period under study. In this sense, despite the absence of environmental differences between urban and rural areas in Extremadura, there was a clear rural height penalty in the region from the mid-19th century to the late 20th century. Rural punishment was fundamentally related to the greater presence of agrarian workers and the lower presence of wealthy families in villages and small towns. On the contrary, educational differences or differences in terms of nutritional health were not as decisive in the rural height penalization, at least when such differences are measured with the sources of military recruitment.

Suggested Citation

  • Antonio M. Linares-Luján & Francisco M. Parejo-Moruno, 2021. "Rural Height Penalty or Socioeconomic Penalization? The Nutritional Inequality in Backward Spain," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(9), pages 1-25, April.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:18:y:2021:i:9:p:4483-:d:541947
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Kirchengast, Sylvia & Waldhör, Thomas & Juan, Alfred & Yang, Lin, 2024. "Secular trends and regional pattern in body height of Austrian conscripts born between 1961 and 2002," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 53(C).
    2. Hector Garcia-Montero, 2022. "Height, Nutritional and Economic Inequality in Central Spain, 1837–1936," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(6), pages 1-18, March.
    3. Linares-Luján, Antonio M. & Parejo-Moruno, Francisco M., 2022. "Short men in poor lands: The agrarian workers from southwestern Spain in anthropometric perspective," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 47(C).
    4. Begoña Candela-Martínez & José M. Martínez-Carrión & Cándido Román-Cervantes, 2021. "Biological Well-Being and Inequality in Canary Islands: Lanzarote (Cohorts 1886–1982)," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 18(23), pages 1-21, December.

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