ABSTRACT
The quantitative relationship between sex-and age-specific height and real per capita income is tested for the case of France for the period 1815-1986, and for the case of Italy for the years 1861-1973. This chapter suggests that data on height can be used as estimators for changes in material well-being over time. Such a model was first developed by Henk Jan Brinkman, Jan W. Drukker and Slot in 1985 on the basis of data on the heights of Dutch conscripts in the first decennia of the twentieth century. H. Richard Steckel, an economic-historian, came very close to the solution by suggesting that there existed a high correlation between real per capita income and average sex- and age-specific height. The relationship developed was tested on the case of France for the years 1815 to 1913.
