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Growing incomes, growing people in nineteenth-century Tasmania

Author

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  • Kris Inwood
  • Hamish Maxwell-Stewart
  • Deb Oxley

Abstract

The earliest measures of well-being for Europeans born in the Pacific region are heights and wages in Tasmania. Evidence of rising stature survives multiple checks for measurement, compositional and selection bias. The challenges to health and stature seen in other nineteenth-century settler societies (the æantebellum paradoxÆ) are not visible here. There was a strong correlation in Tasmania between stature and per capita GDP. We sketch an interpretation highlighting the role of relatively slow population growth and urbanization, a decline in food cost per family member available from a workerÆs wage, and early recognition of the importance of public health.

Suggested Citation

  • Kris Inwood & Hamish Maxwell-Stewart & Deb Oxley, 2015. "Growing incomes, growing people in nineteenth-century Tasmania," CEH Discussion Papers 038, Centre for Economic History, Research School of Economics, Australian National University.
    • Handle: RePEc:auu:hpaper:038
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    File URL: https://cbe.anu.edu.au/researchpapers/CEH/WP201508.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Persaud, Alexander, 2023. "Historical height measurement consistency: Evidence from colonial Trinidad," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    2. Ewout Depauw & Deborah Oxley, 2017. "Toddlers, teenagers & terminal heights: The determinants of adult male stature Flanders 1800-76," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _157, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    3. Schneider, Eric B., 2023. "The determinants of child stunting and shifts in the growth pattern of children: a long-run, global review," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 120392, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.

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