Stature and Famine in China: The Welfare of the Survivors of the Great Leap Forward Famine, 1959-61

20 Pages Posted: 15 Jan 2008

See all articles by Stephen L. Morgan

Stephen L. Morgan

University of Nottingham - Nottingham University Business School; University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Faculty of Social Sciences

Date Written: February 2007

Abstract

Past studies of the Chinese Great Leap Forward famine focus on its causality or the economics effects, but few examine the welfare of the survivors. Thirty million people may have died. Human height, an indicator of nutrition, is used to examine the impact on the survivors of the famine who were born from the late 1950s to the early 1960s. Data are from a survey of 112,000 industrial workers born between the 1940s and 1970s and surveys of children since the 1950s. Trends in average stature for the first time enable us to quantify the impact on the welfare of the survivors.

Keywords: China, Great Leap Forward, Famine, Human welfare, Height, Stature

JEL Classification: N15, N35, O15, O53, I31

Suggested Citation

Morgan, Stephen Lloyd, Stature and Famine in China: The Welfare of the Survivors of the Great Leap Forward Famine, 1959-61 (February 2007). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1083059 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.1083059

Stephen Lloyd Morgan (Contact Author)

University of Nottingham - Nottingham University Business School ( email )

Business School South
University of Nottingham
Nottingham, NG8 1BB
United Kingdom
+44 115 82 32116 (Phone)

HOME PAGE: http://www.nottingham.ac.uk/Chinese/people/s.morgan

University of Nottingham Ningbo China, Faculty of Social Sciences ( email )

199 Taikang East Road
Ningbo, Zhejiang 315100
China
+86 186-6780-2355 (Phone)

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