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The First WorldWar andWorking-Class Food Consumption in Britain

Author

Listed:
  • Ian Gazeley

    (Department of History, University of Sussex)

  • Andrew Newell

    (Department of Economics, University of Sussex)

Abstract

This paper reassesses the food consumption and dietary impact of the regimes of food and food price control and eventually, food rationing, that were introduced in Britain during the First World War. At the end of the War the Sumner Committee was convened to investigate the effects of these controls on the diets of working class families. With the help of some of the original returns of an earlier 1904 survey, we are able to reassess the Sumner Committee findings. We find that, although calories intakes did not fall for households headed by unskilled workers, there were substantial falls for skilled workers’ households. We also find that the price controls were particularly effective in changing the pattern of food spending. In particular, because the prices of many fruits and vegetables were allowed to rise much more than other foods, there were large falls in the intakes of nutrients most associated with these foods, to average levels well below today’s recommended intakes.

Suggested Citation

  • Ian Gazeley & Andrew Newell, 2010. "The First WorldWar andWorking-Class Food Consumption in Britain," Working Paper Series 1410, Department of Economics, University of Sussex Business School.
    • Handle: RePEc:sus:susewp:1410
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    File URL: http://www.sussex.ac.uk/economics/documents/wps14-2010-gazeleynewell/pdf
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    Cited by:

    1. Kota Ogasawara & Ian Gazeley & Eric B. Schneider, 2020. "Nutrition, Crowding, And Disease Among Low‐Income Households In Tokyo In 1930," Australian Economic History Review, Economic History Society of Australia and New Zealand, vol. 60(1), pages 73-104, March.
    2. Ian Gazeley & Andrew Newell, 2015. "Urban working-class food consumption and nutrition in Britain in 1904," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(1), pages 101-122, February.
    3. Pei Gao & Eric B. Schneider, 2021. "The growth pattern of British children, 1850–1975," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 74(2), pages 341-371, May.
    4. Mark Harrison, 2016. "Myths of the Great War," Studies in Economic History, in: Jari Eloranta & Eric Golson & Andrei Markevich & Nikolaus Wolf (ed.), Economic History of Warfare and State Formation, pages 135-158, Springer.
    5. Joël Floris & Kaspar Staub & Ulrich Woitek, 2016. "The benefits of intervention: birth weights in Basle 1912-1920," ECON - Working Papers 236, Department of Economics - University of Zurich.
    6. Floris, Joël & Müller, Consuela & Woitek, Ulrich, 2015. "The Biological Standard of Living in Zurich during WWI," VfS Annual Conference 2015 (Muenster): Economic Development - Theory and Policy 112909, Verein für Socialpolitik / German Economic Association.
    7. Neil Chalmers & Stacia Stetkiewicz & Padhmanand Sudhakar & Hibbah Osei-Kwasi & Christian J Reynolds, 2019. "Impacts of Reducing UK Beef Consumption Using a Revised Sustainable Diets Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(23), pages 1-20, December.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    First World War; Britain; food controls; food consumption; nutrition;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N34 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: 1913-
    • N44 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, International Relations, and Regulation - - - Europe: 1913-

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