Abstract
Measures of nutritional status such as height, body mass index and the prevalence of nutrient-deficiency diseases are now accepted indicators of well-being. Economic development changes nutritional threats to well-being as populations move from scarcity to abundance. Fogel (1994) links the decline of malnutrition to economic growth, and highlights improvements in nutrition as an engine of growth. Cutler, Glaeser and Shapiro (2003) highlight technological change as a factor in reducing the cost of the production and distribution of food: the average household in the United States spent one-third of its income on food in 1960, but spends less than half that amount on food today.
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Currie, J. (2008). Nutrition and Public Policy in Advanced Economies. In: Durlauf, S.N., Blume, L.E. (eds) The New Palgrave Dictionary of Economics. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-58802-2_1209
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-58802-2_1209
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