The "Kuznets curve" suggests that economicinequality first increases and then decreases during times of rapid economicgrowth.As influenced by the Kuznets curve, this research examines thecorrelation between entrepreneurial activity and wealth inequality by analyzinghistorical data from...

Medical and social scientists have traditionally viewed heart disease as the outcome of current or recent conditions such as poverty, smoking and obesity. Guided by recent medical research, a new understanding of the developmental origins of chronic disease has emerged. In this paper, we apply...

Many studies by social scientists view heart disease as the outcome of current or recent conditions such as poverty, smoking, and obesity. Here we apply an alternative approach to understand cardiovascular disease (CVD) death rates, which are elevated for southern whites relative to the rest of...

Numerous studies report that early childhood biological stress impairs health in later adulthood. Overwhelmingly these studies are based on modern data, when health conditions are quite good by historical standards. Potentially much can be learned by examining the relationship within populations...

This paper depicts and analyzes the wealth distribution and wealth mobility in a national sample of nearly 1,600 households matched in the 1850 and 1860 manuscript schedules of the census. Gini coefficients, a transition matrix, the Shorrocks measure, and a regression model of wealth...

This paper relies on birth and death lists from plantation records to investigate the causes of low birth weight and poor health of young slave children. The sources of deprivation can be traced to the fetal period. The slave work routine was arduous overall and particularily intense during...

This paper assembles new data and new methods for studying wealth inequality trends in industrializing America. Records of household heads from the census matched with real and personal property tax records for Massachusetts reveal that the Theil entropy measure of inequality approximately...

This essay discusses recent progress that has been made in understanding the connection between health and industrialization in 8 developed countries. Because earlier efforts have been stymied by lack of reliable measures of mortality, the most recent work utilizes average height obtained from...

Underenumeration of vital events is a problem familiar topeople who work with historical demographic records. This paper proposes a method for recovering information about neonatal mortality.The approach utilizes average heights of young children to predict the birth weight of American slaves....

For over a quarter century anthropometric historians have struggled to identify and measure the numerous factors that affect adult stature, which depends upon diet, disease and physical activity from conception to maturity. I simplify this complex problem by assessing nutritional status in a...