The relationship between height and economic development in Spain. A historical perspective

Abstract

This paper investigates the relationship between height and economic development in Spain in the modern period. The relation is investigated using recently constructed times series with recruitment data of conscripts. We observed changes in average height along the analyzed period. These variations could be explained by different indicators of economic development such as consumption of hygiene products, the deflator of private consumption, income per capìta, schooling rate, infant mortality and trade (degree of openness). We model human stature as a Vector Autoregressive Model (VAR) and we proceed to estimate a Vector Autoregressive Equilibrium Correction Model (VECqM) to quantify the height response to different changes in the different explanatory variables. The analysis shows that there is a long-°©‐run relationship between height, income, and other indicators of economic development in Spain as consumption of hygiene products, and the degree of opennessHeight, health, income, education, economic development, cointegration, Spain.