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International Migration and Net Nutrition in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries: Evidence from Prison Records

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  • Scott A. Carson

Abstract

In migration studies, immigrant health is a concern before, during, and after migration. This study uses a large late 19th and early 20th century data set of over 20 US prisons to assess migrant net nutrition. Native-born individuals were taller and had the lowest BMIs. International immigrants had lower BMIs and shorter statures. After controlling for other characteristics, native-born females had lower BMIs than men; however, foreign-born women’s’ BMIs were higher than domestic-born women. Females and males with darker complexions had greater BMIs than their counterparts with fairer complexions.

Suggested Citation

  • Scott A. Carson, 2021. "International Migration and Net Nutrition in the Late 19th and Early 20th Centuries: Evidence from Prison Records," CESifo Working Paper Series 9411, CESifo.
    • Handle: RePEc:ces:ceswps:_9411
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Wahl, Jenny B., 1996. "The Jurisprudence of American Slave Sales," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 56(1), pages 143-169, March.
    2. Scott Alan Carson, 2018. "The weight of nineteenth century Mexicans in the Western United States," Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(1), pages 1-12, January.
    3. Gerald Carlino & Keith Sill, 2001. "Regional Income Fluctuations: Common Trends And Common Cycles," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 83(3), pages 446-456, August.
    4. Steckel, Richard H., 1979. "Slave height profiles from coastwise manifests," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 16(4), pages 363-380, October.
    5. Larry A. Sjaastad, 1970. "The Costs and Returns of Human Migration," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Harry W. Richardson (ed.), Regional Economics, chapter 9, pages 115-133, Palgrave Macmillan.
    6. Scott Alan Carson, 2001. "Indentured Migration in America's Great Basin: An Observation in Strategic Behavior in Cooperative Exchanges," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 157(4), pages 651-676, December.
    7. Komlos, John & Carson, Scott, 2017. "The BMI values of the lower classes likely declined during the Great Depression," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 26(C), pages 137-143.
    8. Grubb Farley & Stitt Tony, 1994. "The Liverpool Emigrant Servant Trade and the Transition to Slave Labor in the Chesapeake, 1697-1707: Market Adjustments to War," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 31(3), pages 376-405, July.
    9. Carson, Scott Alan, 2019. "Net nutrition on the late 19(th) and early 20(th) century American Great Plains: a robust biological response to the challenges to the Turner Hypothesis," Munich Reprints in Economics 78280, University of Munich, Department of Economics.
    10. Carson, Scott Alan, 2008. "The Effect of Geography and Vitamin D on African American Stature in the Nineteenth Century: Evidence from Prison Records," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 68(3), pages 812-831, September.
    11. Burkhauser, Richard V. & Cawley, John, 2008. "Beyond BMI: The value of more accurate measures of fatness and obesity in social science research," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 27(2), pages 519-529, March.
    12. Komlos, John & Kelly, Inas (ed.), 2016. "The Oxford Handbook of Economics and Human Biology," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199389292.
    13. Cawley, John (ed.), 2011. "The Oxford Handbook of the Social Science of Obesity," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199736362.
    14. Steckel, Richard H., 1989. "Household migration and rural settlement in the United States, 1850-1860," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 26(2), pages 190-218, April.
    15. Carson, Scott Alan, 2007. "Mexican body mass index values in the late-19th-century American West," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 5(1), pages 37-47, March.
    16. Cawley, John, 2015. "An economy of scales: A selective review of obesity's economic causes, consequences, and solutions," Journal of Health Economics, Elsevier, vol. 43(C), pages 244-268.
    17. Bodenhorn, Howard, 1999. "A Troublesome Caste: Height and Nutrition of Antebellum Virginia's Rural Free Blacks," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 59(4), pages 972-996, December.
    18. Joseph P. Ferrie, 1999. "Yankeys Now: Immigrants in the Antebellum US 1840-1860," NBER Books, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc, number ferr99-1.
    19. Galenson, David W., 1981. "White Servitude and the Growth of Black Slavery in Colonial America," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 41(1), pages 39-47, March.
    20. Cohn,Raymond L., 2009. "Mass Migration under Sail," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521513227, October.
    21. Hatton, Timothy J. & Williamson, Jeffrey G., 1998. "The Age of Mass Migration: Causes and Economic Impact," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780195116519.
    22. Scott Alan Carson, 2013. "The Significance and Relative Contributions of Demographic, Residence, and Socioeconomic Status in Nineteenth-Century U.S. BMI Variation," Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(2), pages 67-76, June.
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    nineteenth century US health; immigrant health; BMI; malnourishment;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • I12 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Health - - - Health Behavior
    • I31 - Health, Education, and Welfare - - Welfare, Well-Being, and Poverty - - - General Welfare, Well-Being
    • J31 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Wages, Compensation, and Labor Costs - - - Wage Level and Structure; Wage Differentials
    • J70 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Labor Discrimination - - - General
    • N31 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - U.S.; Canada: Pre-1913

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