Was there a height urban premium in Italy after the second World War?

Donatella Lanari, University of Perugia
Andrea Crippa, University of Perugia
Luca Pieroni, University of Perugia
Manuel Vaquero, University of Perugia

This study uses anthropometric data to shed some light on standard of living disparities between urban and rural male populations in Italy. To do so, we use an unexplored micro-dataset drawn from the 1951 birth cohort of military conscripts in Italy and use height as a proxy of the standard of living. The estimates are statistically significant and suggest the existence of an “urban height premium”, namely those who were not born in an urban area exhibit a shorter height that varies from -1.34 cm to -2.78 cm, depending on whether the observed municipalities were classified mixed or rural based on their population size.

Keywords: Historical Demography, Inequality, Disadvantage and Discrimination

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