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Regional and personal inequality in welfare in pre-WWII Japan (1892-1941):
Physical stature, income, and health



Jean-Pascal Bassino


September, 2005


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Abstract
This paper investigates the relationship between physical stature, per capita income, health,and regional inequality in Japan at the prefecture-level for the period 1892-1941. The analysis shows that inequality in income and access to health services explains differences in average body height of the population across the 47 Japanese prefectures during this period and that variation in income contributed to changes in height during the 1930s. Annual regional time series of height indicate that Japan experienced a regional convergence in biological welfare before 1914, and that a divergence occurred during the interwar period; personal inequality followed a similar pattern.

This paper was published in Economics and Human Biology Volume 4, Issue 1, January 2006, Pages 62-88
Copyright (C) 2003 by Institute of Economic Research.All rights reserved.