Estimating Neonatal Mortality Rates from the Heights of Children: The Case of American Slaves / Richard H. Steckel.

By:

Steckel, Richard H

Contributor(s):

National Bureau of Economic Research

Material type: Text

TextSeries: Working Paper Series (National Bureau of Economic Research) ; no. w1628.Publication details: Cambridge, Mass. National Bureau of Economic Research 1985.Description: 1 online resource: illustrations (black and white)Online resources:

Available additional physical forms:

Hardcopy version available to institutional subscribers

Abstract: Underenumeration of vital events is a problem familiar topeople who work with historical demographic records. This paper proposes a method for recovering information about neonatal mortality.The approach utilizes average heights of young children to predict the birth weight of American slaves. The results suggest that slave newborns weighed on average about 5.1 pounds, which places them among the poorest populations of developing countries in the mid-twentieth century. The birth weight distribution and a schedule of mortality by birth weight suggest that previous estimates of slave infant mortality are too low. The poor health and stature of children and the relatively large size of slave adults is a pattern of growth and development that is unobserved among poor populations of the twentieth century. Thus slavery may have created an unusual pattern of nutritional resource allocation across ages.

Tags from this library: No tags from this library for this title. Log in to add tags.

Average rating: 0.0 (0 votes)

Holdings
Item type	Home library	Collection	Call number	Status	Date due	Barcode	Item holds
Working Paper	Biblioteca Digital	Colección NBER	nber w1628 (Browse shelf(Opens below))	Not For Loan

Total holds: 0

Collection: Colección NBER Close shelf browser (Hides shelf browser)

Previous	No cover image available	No cover image available	No cover image available	No cover image available	No cover image available	No cover image available	No cover image available	Next
Previous	nber w16277 Does Culture Matter? /	nber w16278 Inside the Refrigerator: Immigration Enforcement and Chilling Effects in Medicaid Participation /	nber w16279 Do Social Connections Reduce Moral Hazard? Evidence from the New York City Taxi Industry /	nber w1628 Estimating Neonatal Mortality Rates from the Heights of Children: The Case of American Slaves /	nber w16280 The Insurance Value of State Tax-and-Transfer Programs /	nber w16281 Putting the Co in Education: Timing, Reasons, and Consequences of College Coeducation from 1835 to the Present /	nber w16282 The Market for Borrowing Corporate Bonds /	Next

June 1985.

Underenumeration of vital events is a problem familiar topeople who work with historical demographic records. This paper proposes a method for recovering information about neonatal mortality.The approach utilizes average heights of young children to predict the birth weight of American slaves. The results suggest that slave newborns weighed on average about 5.1 pounds, which places them among the poorest populations of developing countries in the mid-twentieth century. The birth weight distribution and a schedule of mortality by birth weight suggest that previous estimates of slave infant mortality are too low. The poor health and stature of children and the relatively large size of slave adults is a pattern of growth and development that is unobserved among poor populations of the twentieth century. Thus slavery may have created an unusual pattern of nutritional resource allocation across ages.