The Relationship Among Body Mass, Wealth, and Inequality Across the BMI Distribution: Evidence From Nineteenth-Century Prison Records

Nineteenth-century U.S. Black and White body mass indexes (BMIs) were distributed symmetrically; neither wasting nor obesity was common. BMI values were also greater for Blacks than for Whites. During industrialization in the nineteenth century in the United States, there was a negative relationship between BMIs and average state-level wealth and an inverse relationship between BMI and wealth inequality. After controlling for wealth and inequality, rural agricultural farmers had greater BMI values than their urban counterparts in other occupations.