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Height inequality and socioeconomic implications in Korea: analysis of individuals born between 1890 and 1919

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  14 October 2019

Seong-jin Choi Open the ORCID record for Seong-jin Choi [Opens in a new window]
Seong-jin Choi*
Affiliation:
School of Business, Hanyang University, Seoul, South Korea
*
Corresponding author. Email: seongjin@hanyang.ac.kr
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Abstract

This study examined height inequality as an indicator of income inequality during the colonial period (1910–1945) in Korea. Data were taken from a sample of 1796 male prisoners from a wide range of geographical locations and with varied socioeconomic backgrounds. Height inequality was measured using the coefficient of variation of height (CV) for each birth decade. The results indicated that height inequality, as measured by the CV, increased slightly from 3.32 to 3.35 for the birth decades 1890–99 and 1900–09, then jumped to 3.50 for the birth decade 1910–19. Considering the Kuznets curve, the presented results have socioeconomic implications for Japan’s impact in Korea, at least during the early colonial period.

Keywords

EcohealthHuman Population BiologyPopulation Health
Type
Research Article
Information
Journal of Biosocial Science , Volume 52 , Issue 4 , July 2020 , pp. 504 - 513
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2019

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