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Numeracy and the Impact of High Food Prices in Industrializing Britain, 1780–1850

Author

Listed:
  • Jorg Baten

    (Tübingen University)

  • Dorothee Crayen

    (Tübingen University)

  • Hans-Joachim Voth

    (U Zurich and UBS Center)

Abstract

Using census-based data on the ability to recall one's age, we show that low levels of nutrition impaired numeracy in industrializing England, 1780 to 1850: cognitive ability declined among those born during the Napoleonic wars. The effect was stronger in areas where grain was expensive and relief for the poor, an early form of welfare support was limited. Nutritional shortages had a nonlinear effect on numeracy, with, severe shortages impairing numeracy more. Nutrition during childhood also mattered for labor market outcomes: individuals born in periods or counties with low numeracy typically worked in occupations with lower earnings.© 2014 The President and Fellows of Harvard College and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Suggested Citation

  • Jorg Baten & Dorothee Crayen & Hans-Joachim Voth, 2014. "Numeracy and the Impact of High Food Prices in Industrializing Britain, 1780–1850," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(3), pages 418-430, July.
    • Handle: RePEc:tpr:restat:v:96:y:2014:i:3:p:418-430
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    File URL: http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/REST_a_00403
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    Keywords

    nutrition; cognitive development; age heaping; numeracy; occupational choice; Industrial Revolution; social spending; poverty traps; effects of war.;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • O11 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Macroeconomic Analyses of Economic Development
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration
    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • I28 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Education - - - Government Policy

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