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The Transformation of Hunger: The Demand for Calories Past and Present

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 June 2009

Trevon D. Logan
Trevon D. Logan*
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, The Ohio State University, 410 Arps Hall, 1945 North High Street, Columbus, OH 43210; and Faculty Research Fellow, NBER. E-mail: logan.155@osu.edu.
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Abstract

According to conventional income measures, American and British industrial workers in the late nineteenth century were two to four times as wealthy as those in developing countries today. Estimated calorie expenditure elasticities of American and British industrial workers based on the 1888 Cost of Living Survey are greater than calorie elasticity estimates for developing countries today, which suggest that yesterday's wealthy workers were hungrier than today's poor. The result is robust to numerous criticisms. The finding implies an extraordinary improvement in nutritional well-being among the poor in the last century that has not been captured by our income estimates.

Type
ARTICLES
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 69 , Issue 2 , June 2009 , pp. 388 - 408
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 2009

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