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LONG-RUN TRENDS IN HUMAN BODY MASS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  26 April 2007

NILS-PETTER LAGERLÖF
NILS-PETTER LAGERLÖF
Affiliation:
York University
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Abstract

Over the past two million years human body mass first increased and later declined, peaking about 50,000 years ago. This paper sets up a model of natural selection among body types to explain this pattern. Population, technology, and average body mass evolve endogenously and interdependently in such a way that a takeoff in technological progress generates rising population density and resource depletion. This in turn makes large bodies less useful in food procurement, while keeping their metabolism requirements high. The result is a shift in reproductive advantage from big to small bodies and an endogenous reversal of the time trend in body mass.

Keywords

Long-Run GrowthNatural SelectionBodyPopulation
Type
ARTICLES
Information
Macroeconomic Dynamics , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , June 2007 , pp. 367 - 387
Copyright
© 2007 Cambridge University Press

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