The physical stature of lower- and upper-class English youth are compared to one another and to their European and North American counterparts. The height gap between the rich and poor was the greatest in England, reaching 22 cm at age 16. The poverty-stricken English children were shorter for...

Reviews the evidence on early-industrial height cycles and shows why the economic transition put downward pressure on the nutritional status of the European and American populations.

Proposes an economic-growth model that adheres to the salient features of the European economies during the millennium prior to the Industrial Revolution and shows how the Industrial Revolution, generated by the model, can be conceptualized as an escape from the Malthusian trap.

Proposes an economic-growth model that adheres to the salient features of the European economies during the millennium prior to the Industrial Revolution and shows how the Industrial Revolution, generated by the model, can be conceptualized as an escape from the Malthusian trap.

Argues that on the basis of evidence of British soldiers there was a threat of a Malthusian crisis on the eve of the Industrial Revolution.

Considers the development of the European economies from the Middle Ages to the Industrial Revolution to argue that the accumulation of physical and human capital played a major role in the escape from the Malthusian trap.

Argues that the Industrial Revolution is best conceptualized as having grown out of a process that began millennia earlier, and became possible only when the European populations were able to escape from the Malthusian trap which constrained their growth in prior centuries.

Presents an overview of the various conceptualizations of the Industrial Revolution and comes to the conclusion that it is useful to consider the Industrial revolution as an escape from the Malthusian constraints.

Argues that the Industrial Revolution is best conceptualized as having grown out of a process that began millennia earlier, and became possible only when the European populations were able to escape from the Malthusian trap which constrained their growth in prior centuries.

This paper describes a two-sector demo-economic model (agricultural and non-agricultural sectors) applied to Europe and spanning the period from the neolithic agricultural revolution to the Industrial Revolution. The model describes the "incessant contest" between population growth and food...