We trace the introduction of anthropometric indicators into development and labor economics in the late 1970s.

Develops a robust statistical procedure to analyze the trend in height if the available samples are truncated at the minimum height requirement.

Reviews the evidence on early-industrial height cycles and shows why the economic transition put downward pressure on the nutritional status of the European and American populations.

Examines the height of Habsburg Soldiers in the late 18th and early 19th centuries, and argues that the society was facing a Malthusian crisis, which induced the Monarch to enact many institutional changes in order to save the society from disaster. While living standards declined, the...

Based on the height data of 18th-century American soldiers the inference is warranted that Americans were taller than Europeans, and the wedge widened during the course of the century.

Proposes an economic-growth model that adheres to the salient features of the European economies during the millennium prior to the Industrial Revolution and shows how the Industrial Revolution, generated by the model, can be conceptualized as an escape from the Malthusian trap.

Outlines the secular changes in the demand for money in Austria-Hungary, and examines their institutional and economic correlates.