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Possible consequences of nutritional improvements for the economic development

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  • Nutrition
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Intereconomics

Abstract

Studies of the relationship of nutrition and economic development have hitherto largely focused on the question how the state of nutrition has changed in consequence of economic developments. The analysis concentrated on the “passive role of nutrition”. In the following article the question is reversed: what possibilities exist for influencing the development process by measures of nutrition policy?

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References

  1. Cf. H.-R. Hemmer, Der Einfluß der Ernährung..., ibid. auf die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung der Dritte Welt (The influence of nutrition on the economic development of the Third World), in: Zentrum für regionale Entwicklungsforschung der Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen (ed.), Fehlernährung und ihre Folgen für die regionale Entwicklung (Malnutrition and its consequences for regional development), Saarbrücken 1979.

  2. On the following cf. H.-R. Hemmer, Wirtschaftsprobleme der Entwicklungsländer. Eine Einführung (Economic problems of the developing countries. An introduction), Munich 1978, Chapter A.

  3. Various authors still include education/instruction and employment in the basic human needs. Cf., e. g., D. Schwefel, Grundbedürfnisse und Entwicklungspolitik (Basic needs and development policy), Baden-Baden 1978.

  4. Cf. H.-R. Hemmer, Zur Problematik der gesamtwirtschaftlichen Zielfunktion in Entwicklungsländern (On the problems of the general economic objective function in developing countries), 2nd edition, Saarbrücken 1978.

  5. Cf. K.-H. Lemnitzer, Ernährungssituation und wirtschaftliche Entwicklung (State of nutrition and economic development), Saarbrücken 1977, p. 14ff.

  6. Cf. J.W. Mellor, Nutrition and Economic Growth, in: A. Berg, N.S. Scrimshaw, D.L. Call (eds.), Nutrition, National Development, and Planning, Cambridge (Mass.) and London 1973, p. 70.

  7. Cf. H.-R. Hemmer, Wirtschaftsprobleme der Entwicklungsländer..., ibid., Der Einfluß der Ernährung auf die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung der Dritten Welt (The influence of nutrition on the economic development of the Third World), in: Zentrum für regionale Entwicklungsforschung der Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen (ed.), Fehlernährung und ihre Folgen für die regionale entwicklung (Malnutrition and its consequences for regional development), Saarbrüken 1979.

  8. This aspect has been discussed extensively in the literature. Cf. the comprehensive survey in K.-H. Lemnitzer, Ernährungssituation und wirtschaftliche Entwicklung, ibid., (State of nutrition and economic development), Saarbrücken 1977, p. 169ff., and A. Berg. The Nutrition Factor, Washington 1973, p. 9ff.

  9. R.A. Berry for instance estimates the proportion of such unemployed in the statistically recorded overt unemployment in Colombia at 50–60%. Cf. R. A. Berry, Open Unemployment as a Social Problem in Urban Colombia: Myth and Reality, in: Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 23 (1974/75).

  10. “To call them underemployed does not seem pertinent”-T.W. Schultz, Investment in Human Capital, in: American Economic Review, Vol. 51 (1961), p. 5.

  11. Cf. P. Belli, The Economic Implications of Malnutrition: The Dismal Science Revisited, in: Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 20 (1971/72); M. Selowsky, L. Taylor, The Economics of Malnourished Children: An Example of Disinvestment in Human Capital, in: Economic Development and Cultural Change, Vol. 22 (1973/74).

  12. Cf. e.g., H. Correa, G. Cummings, Contribution of Nutrition to Economic Growth, in: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Vol. 23 (1970); H. Correa, Sources of Economic Growth in Latin America, in: Southern Economic Journal, Vol. 37 (1970/71).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Justus Liebig University, Gießen

    Hans-Rimbert Hemmer

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  1. Hans-Rimbert Hemmer
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The present article is a short version of: H.-R. Hemmer, Der Einfluß der Ernährung auf die wirtschaftliche Entwicklung der Dritten Welt (The influence of nutrition on the economic development of the Third World), in: Zentrum für regionale Entwicklungsforschung der Justus-Liebig-Universität Gießen (ed.), Fehlernährung und ihre Folgen für die regionale Entwicklung (Malnutrition and its consequences for regional development), Saarbrücken 1979.

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Hemmer, HR. Possible consequences of nutritional improvements for the economic development. Intereconomics 14, 185–189 (1979). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02924276

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