Sample-Selection Bias and Height Trends in the Nineteenth-Century United States

@article{Zimran2018SampleSelectionBA,
  title={Sample-Selection Bias and Height Trends in the Nineteenth-Century United States},
  author={A. Zimran},
  journal={Political Economy - Development: Health eJournal},
  year={2018}
}
  • A. Zimran
  • Published 2018
  • Geography
  • Political Economy - Development: Health eJournal
After adjusting for sample-selection bias, I find a net decline in average stature of 0.64 inches in the birth cohorts of 1832--1860 in the US. This result supports the veracity of the Antebellum Puzzle—a deterioration of health during early modern economic growth in the US. However, this adjustment alters the trend in average stature, validating concerns over bias in the historical heights literature. The adjustment is based on census-linked military height data and uses a two-step semi… Expand
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ABSTRACT Recent research has ignited a debate in social science history over whether and how to draw conclusions for whole populations from sources that describe only select subsets of these… Expand
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We report on the heights and physical characteristics of New Zealand soldiers who served in the Second Boer War. Adult heights are widely used as evidence of the standard of living. The adult NZ-born… Expand
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We study migrant selection using the rich data generated by the migration of Italians to the US between 1907 and 1925. Comparing migrants' heights to the height distributions of their birth cohorts… Expand
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ABSTRACT Over the last four decades, historians and social scientists have become increasingly interested in the way in which information about stature might be used to explore the impact of… Expand
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After several hundred years of a closed-door policy, Korea finally opened its ports in 1876. Historians have traditionally claimed that the port-opening was coerced by foreign countries, deteriorated… Expand
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It has often been recognised that the average height of a population is influenced by the economic and environmental conditions in which its finds itself, and this has inspired a generation of… Expand
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