GDP per capita and the biological standard of living in contemporary developing countries

This paper investigates whether a divergence between the biological standard of living (commonly measured by some anthropometric indicator) and GDP per capita during the early phases of industrialization, as observed for many now-developed countries in the nineteenth century, can also be found for the current developing countries. The paper examines whether such a divergence exists and which factors might explain its possible existence. We conclude that there is not much evidence for such a divergence. However, there is considerable variance by such factors as the infant mortality rate in addition to GDP per capita.