Explaining long-term trends in health and longevity

About this book

"Explaining Long-Term Trends in Health and Longevity is a collection of essays by Nobel laureate Robert W. Fogel on the theory and measurement of ageing and health-related variables. Dr Fogel analyzes historic data on height, health, nutrition and life expectation to provide a clearer understanding of the past, illustrate the costs and benefits of using such measures and note the difficulties of drawing conclusions from data intended for different purposes. Dr Fogel explains how the basic findings of the anthropomorphic approach to historical analysis have helped reinterpret the nature of economic growth. Rising life expectancies and lower disease rates in countries experiencing economic growth highlight the importance of improving nutrition and agricultural productivity"-- "This book collects several of Robert W. Fogel's papers on the nuances of anthropometric data. While often difficult to work with, these data have provided economists, demographers, economic historians, and epidemiologists the opportunities to make major contributions to the understanding of long-term changes in health, healthcare costs, and the physiology of aging"--