Leunig, Tim and Voth, Hans-Joachim
(2006)
Comment on Oxley’s "Seat of death and terror".
Economic History Review, 59 (3).
pp. 607-616.
ISSN 0013-0117
Abstract
Oxley finds that smallpox consistently reduced heights, but that the fall was not statistically significant outside London or for juvenile Londoners. We demonstrate that inappropriate subdivision of the data into small samples explains the lack of significance she obtains. Further analysis of Oxley's data shows that smallpox was a statistically significant cause of stunting, and that there were no differences in the effect by area. Juveniles exhibit greater stunting than adults, leading us to conclude that smallpox was not a proxy for overcrowding. That smallpox reduced height is important for anthropometric history: heights capture the effect of a truly awful disease.
| Item Type: |
Article
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| Official URL: |
http://www.blackwellpublishing.com/journals/EHR |
| Additional Information: |
This is an electronic version of an Article published in Economic history review, 59 (3), 607-616 © 2006 Blackwell Publishing. Upon publication the definitive version will be available at www.blackwell-synergy.com. LSE has developed LSE Research Online so that users may access research output of the School. Copyright © and Moral Rights for the papers on this site are retained by the individual authors and/or other copyright owners. Users may download and/or print one copy of any article(s) in LSE Research Online to facilitate their private study or for non-commercial research. You may not engage in further distribution of the material or use it for any profit-making activities or any commercial gain. You may freely distribute the URL (http://eprints.lse.ac.uk) of the LSE Research Online website. |
| Divisions: |
Economic History |
| Subjects: |
H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions |
| Date Deposited: |
09 Aug 2006 |
| Last Modified: |
08 Oct 2024 04:00 |
| URI: |
http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/500 |
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