Seasonal anthropometric cycles in a command economy: the case of Czechoslovakia, 1946-1966.
Anthropometric evidence is used to shed light on the living standards in early communist Czechoslovakia (1946-1966). Height and weight variation of adolescent boys exhibit a pattern that is inconsistent with that for a normal healthy population. The hypothesis is proposed that this pattern arose from periodic food supply shortages, most marked in the spring of each year. The boys in the sample display a remarkably slow growth during the spring but catch up over the summer.
Cvrcek
Tomas
T
Department of Economics, Vanderbilt University, VU Station B#351819, 2301 Vanderbilt Place, Nashville, TN 37235-1819, United States. tomas.cvrcek@vanderbilt.edu
D000293:Adolescent; D000886:Anthropometry / Q000266:history; D001827:Body Height; D001835:Body Weight; D002648:Child; D003148:Communism / Q000266:history*; D003604:Czechoslovakia; D005260:Female; D005523:Food Supply / Q000266:history; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D016018:Least-Squares Analysis; D008297:Male; D009752:Nutritional Status; D011640:Public Policy; D012621:Seasons