Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-mlc7c Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-19T12:03:51.022Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Height inequality and socioeconomic implications in Korea: analysis of individuals born between 1890 and 1919

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2019

Seong-jin Choi Open the ORCID record for Seong-jin Choi [Opens in a new window]
Seong-jin Choi*
Affiliation:
School of Business, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea
*
Corresponding author. Email: seongjin@hanyang.ac.kr
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

This study examined height inequality as an indicator of income inequality during the colonial period (1910–1945) in Korea. Data were taken from a sample of 1796 male prisoners from a wide range of geographical locations and with varied socioeconomic backgrounds. Height inequality was measured using the coefficient of variation of height (CV) for each birth decade. The results indicated that height inequality, as measured by the CV, increased slightly from 3.32 to 3.35 for the birth decades 1890–99 and 1900–09, then jumped to 3.50 for the birth decade 1910–19. Considering the Kuznets curve, the presented results have socioeconomic implications for Japan’s impact in Korea, at least during the early colonial period.

Keywords

EcohealthHuman Population BiologyPopulation Health
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 52 , Issue 4 , July 2020 , pp. 504 - 513
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Acemoglu, D and Robinson, JA (2012) Why Nations Fail: The Origins of Power, Prosperity, and Poverty. Crown Business, New York.Google Scholar
Ayuda, M-I and Puche-Gil, J (2014) Determinants of height and biological inequality in Mediterranean Spain, 1859–1967. Economics and Human Biology 15, 101–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barro, RJ (2000) Inequality and growth in a panel of countries. Journal of Economic Growth 5, 5–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barro, RJ (2008) Inequality and growth revisited. Working Paper Series on Regional Economic Integration No. 11. Asian Development Bank, Manila.Google Scholar
Baten, J (2000) Economic development and the distribution of nutritional resources in Bavaria, 1797–1839: an anthropometric study. Journal of Income Distribution 9, 89–106.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blum, M (2014) Estimating male and female height inequality. Economics and Human Biology 14, 103–108.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Blum, M and Baten, J (2011) Anthropometric within-country inequality and the estimation of skill premia with anthropometric indicators. Jahrbuch Für Wirtschaftswissenschaften 62, 107–138.Google Scholar
Blum, M and Baten, J (2012) Growing taller, but unequal: biological well-being in world regions and its determinants, 1810–1989. Economic History of Developing Regions 27, S66–S85.Google Scholar
Bogin, B (1991) Measurement of growth variability and environmental quality in Guatemalan children. Annals of Human Biology 18, 285–294.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bolt, J and van Zanden, JL (2013) The first update of the Maddison Project: re-estimating growth before 1820. Maddison Project Working Paper No. 4.Google Scholar
Cha, MS, Hwang, J and Lee, WY (2014) Educational wage gap in Korea, 1922–2011: evidence from financial industry [in Korean]. Kyungje Sahak 56, 83–114.Google Scholar
Cha, MS and Kim, NN (2012) Korea’s first industrial revolution, 1911–1940. Explorations in Economic History 49, 60–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cha, MS and Lee, YY (2007) Level and structure of wages in colonial Korea, 1910–1942 [in Korean]. Kyungje Sahak 43, 41–66.Google Scholar
Choi, SJ and Schwekendiek, D (2009) The biological standard of living in colonial Korea, 1910–1945. Economics and Human Biology 7, 259–264.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Deininger, K and Squire, L (1998) New ways of looking at old issues: inequality and growth. Journal of Development Economics 57, 259–287.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duus, P (1995) The Abacus and the Sword: The Japanese Penetration of Korea, 1895–1910. University of California Press, Berkeley.Google Scholar
Easterlin, RA (1974) Does economic growth improve the human lot? In David, PA and Reder, MW (eds) Nations and Households in Economic Growth: Essays in Honor of Moses Abramovitz. Academic Press, New York, pp. 89–125.Google Scholar
Guntupalli, AM and Baten, J (2006) The development and inequality of heights in North, West, and East India 1915–44. Explorations in Economic History 43, 578–608.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huh, SY (1981) Estimation of the real wages and its change under the Japanese colonial rule [in Korean]. Kyungje Sahak 5, 213–246.Google Scholar
Jha, SK (1996) The Kuznets Curve: a reassessment. World Development 24, 773–780.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Joo, I (2006) Standard of living in colonial Korea. In: Rhee, Yet al. (eds) Reinterpreting Korea’s Liberation History. Chaeksesang, Seoul, pp. 107–144.Google Scholar
Kim, D and Park, H (2011) Measuring living standards from the lowest: height of the male Hangryu deceased in colonial Korea. Explorations in Economic History 48, 590–599.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, D and Park, KJ (2008) Colonialism and industrialization: factory labour productivity of colonial Korea, 1913–37. Australian Economic History Review 48, 26–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kim, N (2006) Economic Development of Korea, 1910–1945. Seoul National University Press, Seoul.Google Scholar
Kim, NN (2003) The Korean Economy under Japanese Rule [in Korean]. Haenam, Seoul.Google Scholar
Kim, NN (2013) Income inequality in Colonial Korea, 1933–1940: evidence from income tax statistics [in Korean]. Kyungje Sahak 55, 249–279.Google Scholar
Kim, NN and Park, KJ (2010) Reconsideration of the level of structure of wages in colonial Korea: 1906–1943 [in Korean]. Kyungje Sahak 49, 3–37.Google Scholar
Komlos, J (1996) Anomalies in economic history: toward a resolution of the “Antebellum Puzzle”. Journal of Economic History 56, 202–214.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Komlos, J (2007) Anthropometric evidence on economic growth, biological wellbeing, and regional convergence in the Habsburg monarchy, c. 1850–1910. Cliometrica 1, 211–237.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kuznets, S (1955) Economic growth and income inequality. American Economic Review 45, 1–28.Google Scholar
Lee, WY and Cha, MS (2007) Level and structure of wages in colonial Korea, 1910–1942 [in Korean]. Kyungje Sahak 43, 41–66.Google Scholar
Lindert, PH and Williamson, JG (1983) Reinterpreting Britain’s social tables, 1688–1913. Explorations in Economic History 20, 94–109.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meisel, A and Vega, M (2007) The biological standard of living (and its convergence) in Colombia, 1870–2003: a tropical success story. Economics and Human Biology 5, 100–122.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moradi, A and Baten, J (2005) Inequality in Sub-Saharan Africa: new data and new insights from anthropometric estimates. World Development 33, 1233–1265.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Odaka, K (1975) Employment and wage of Korea under Japanese rule. Hitotsubashi University Review of Economics 26, 145–158.Google Scholar
Piketty, T (2003) Income inequality in France, 1901–1998. Journal of Political Economy 111, 1004–1042.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pradhan, M, Sahn, DE and Younger, SD (2003) Decomposing world health inequality. Journal of Health Economics 22, 271–283.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Quiroga, G and Coll, S (2000) Income distribution in the mirror of height differences: the case of Spain 1895–1950. Journal of Income Distribution 9, 107–131.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rhee, YH (2014) Economic stagnation and crisis in Korea during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Australian Economic History Review 54, 1–13.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Schmitt, LH and Harrison, GA (1988) Pattern in the within-population variability of stature and weight. Annals of Human Biology 15, 353–364.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steckel, RH (1983) Height and per capita income. Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History 16, 1–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Steckel, RH (2009) Heights and human welfare: recent developments and new directions. Explorations in Economic History 46, 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Van Zanden, JL (1995) The beginning of the Kuznets curve. Economic History Review 48, 643–664.Google Scholar
Van Zanden, JL, Baten, J, Foldvari, P and van Leeuwen, B (2014) The changing shape of global inequality 1820–2000: exploring a new dataset. Review of Income and Wealth 60, 279–297.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wilkinson, RG and Pickett, KE (2006) Income inequality and population health: a review and explanation of the evidence. Social Science & Medicine 62, 1768–1784.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, J (2004) Colonial legacy and modern economic growth in Korea: a critical examination of their relationship. Development and Society 33, 1–24Google Scholar