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Bones of Contention: The Political Economy of Height Inequality

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 November 2013

CARLES BOIX  and
FRANCES ROSENBLUTH
CARLES BOIX*
Affiliation:
Princeton University
FRANCES ROSENBLUTH*
Affiliation:
Yale University
*
Carles Boix is Robert Garrett Professor of Politics and Public Affairs, Department of Politics and Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ 08544 (cboix@princeton.edu).
Frances Rosenbluth is Damon Wells Professor of Political Science, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06511 (frances.rosenbluth@yale.edu).
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Abstract

Human osteological data provide a rich, still-to-be-mined source of information about the distribution of nutrition and, by extension, the distribution of political power and economic wealth in societies of long ago. On the basis of data we have collected and analyzed on societies ranging from foraging communities to the ancient Egyptian and modern European monarchies, we find that the shift from hunting and gathering to complex fishing techniques and to labor-intensive agriculture opened up inequalities that had discernible effects on human health and stature. But we also find that political institutions intervened decisively in the distribution of resources within societies. Political institutions appear to be shaped not only by economic factors but also by military technology and vulnerability to invasion.

Type
Research Article
Information
American Political Science Review , Volume 108 , Issue 1 , February 2014 , pp. 1 - 22
Copyright
Copyright © American Political Science Association 2013 

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