Salvatore, R. - Stature, Nutrition, and Regional Convergence

Stature, Nutrition, and Regional Convergence: The Argentine Northwest in the First Half
of the Twentieth Century

Author(s): Ricardo D. Salvatore
Source: Social Science History, Vol. 28, No. 2, Special Issue: Recent Research in
Anthropometric History (Summer, 2004), pp. 297-324
Published by: Cambridge University Press
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/40267844
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Ricardo D. Salvatore
Stature, Nutrition,
and Regional Convergence
The Argentine Northwest in the
First Half of the Twentieth Century
During the so-called long delay of Argentine economic development, the northwest
region experienced a sustained improvement in its health and nutrition status, as indi-
cated by new evidence on heights. Within the region, there was internal convergence in
average stature: differences in heights grew smaller over time between the provinces of
Santiago del Estero, Tucumân, Catamarca, Salta, and jfujuy. In relation to Buenos
Aires, the northwest region did not converge. Within the region, differences in skills,
education, and social standing translated into important differences in stature. These
differences tended to increase over time. Factors believed to be crucial for the economic
growth and welfare of the region (such as the development of the sugar industry and
the inflow of Bolivian immigrants) do not seem to have affected the long-term growth
in stature.
According to the traditional account, the northwest region of Argentina ad-

justed unevenly to the economic progress of the country's agro-export econ-
omy (see Figure 1). While the Pampa region- Buenos Aires province, south
of Santa Fe and Entre Rios, south of Cordoba, and east of La Pampa prov-
ince-built an economy based on agricultural exports, especially of livestock,
between 1880 and 1914, in the northwest the province of Tucumân developed
a successful sugar industry that attracted laborers from neighboring regions1
(Guy 1980; Balân 1978; Giménez Zapiola 1975; Schleh 1944). This economic
Social Science History 28:2 (summer 2004), 297-324

Copyright © 2004 by the Social Science History Association
298 Social Science History
Figure 1 Map of Pampa and northwest regions of Argentina
Stature, Nutrition, and Regional Convergence in the Argentine Northwest 299
impulse soon spread into the provinces of Salta and Jujuy, which developed
their own sugar industry complexes in the early twentieth century. The other
three provinces of the northwest (Catamarca, Santiago del Estero, and La
Rioja) remained without industry, depending for their subsistence on peasant
agriculture, the exploitation of forest resources, and labor-intensive mining.2
Tucuman's economic development- specializing in the production of
sugar after the railroad connection with the Pampa and Littoral regions
(1876)- was considered successful at first, but, starting in the 1920s, pes-
simism set in. Rising imports of sugar forced sugar prices down, creating a
prolonged crisis of overproduction that led to intense social conflicts in 1926-
27 (Campi 1991). Rising competition from the newer producers (Salta and
Jujuy), combined with increased wages, taxes, and railway fares at a time of
regulated prices, placed Tucuman's sugar industry in a disadvantageous posi-
tion (Santamaria 1986: 53-55). Representatives of the sugar industry began
to demand greater protection from the federal government, while provin-
cial governors and deputies from the region complained vociferously about
the "backwardness" and peripheral condition of the northwest.3 In the mid-
19208, the governor of Jujuy, Benjamin Villafane, started to organize opposi-
tion in the northwest against the centralist and free-trade policies of Buenos
Aires.4 From the nation's capital, in turn, influential economists (Alejandro
Bunge) and social reformers (Alfredo Palacios) joined in the criticism, blam-
ing Buenos Aires for what they called the "abandonment" of the interior
provinces, until the peripheral condition of the interior and, in particular, of
the northwest became commonplace.5
From the 1930s to the mid-1960s, the process of import-substituting
industrialization created new poles of development (Cordoba, Rosario, Men-
doza, Gran Buenos Aires) that further depopulated and impoverished the
northwest. According to the conventional interpretation, by the 1930s or
1940s the northwest had become a poor and unhealthful agrarian periphery
providing cheap labor for the industrializing Pampa region (Rofman 1974;
Coraggio 1970). While most criticism focused upon the problem of emigra-
tion and the lack of dynamism of the northwestern economies, others pre-
sented the problem in terms of biological impoverishment (Moyano Llerena
1943). Physician Alfredo Palacios, who toured the region in 1939-40, found
widespread poverty, undernourished children, and debilitating endemic dis-
eases. The northwest, according to Palacios, was raising malnourished chil-
dren who later would become too weak to serve as soldiers (Palacios 1944).6
Judging by its demographic performance, the northwest provinces

lagged behind in socioeconomic development. Santiago del Estero and Cata-
marca had impressive rates of birth and relatively low mortality rates but
were unable to retain much of their population growth. Lacking opportuni-
ties in their native provinces, youths migrated to other provinces in search of
employment (Martinez Zuviria 1941; Moyano Llerena 1943). Some of these
unskilled workers were attracted to the sugarcane harvest in Tucumân, Salta,
and Jujuy as seasonal migrant labor (Whiteford 1981); the majority migrated
to the Littoral region, in the humid Pampas, on a permanent basis (Recchini
de Lattes and Lattes 1969; Miatello 1960). As scholars have argued, the sur-
plus population of the interior, the northwest in particular, sustained indus-
trialization in the urban areas of the Littoral.
This essay contributes new evidence about economic development and

human welfare in the Argentine northwest. Estimates of the average height
of the population of the five provinces of the northwest region are presented
for the birth cohorts 1916-51. The results challenge the notion that the north-
west was economically stagnating or even in decline, casting serious doubt
upon the thesis that economic growth in the Littoral had an immiseration
effect on this region. Rather, in the post- World War I period, labor migrated
to the Littoral in spite of the fact that nutritional conditions in the north-
west were generally improving. Furthermore, new evidence on stature sug-
gests that biological welfare was probably converging across the Argentine
northwest during these years. Provinces or subregions with a shorter popula-
tion in 1916 experienced a faster secular increase in height than those with a
taller population. In the context of nonconvergence in the economic realm at
the national level, this process of intraregional convergence in physical stat-
ure may well point to a particular form of integration that deserves further
exploration.
The Data
In 1985, seeking information on 18-year-old draftees born between 1916 an

1951, the Argentine army microfilmed the enrollment books of all divisions
the army for the period 1934-69. These registration books include inform
tion on age, stature, place of birth, occupation, literacy, special skills (such
whether recruits knew how to drive an automobile or ride a horse), and med
cal condition. While lacking information about family or income, these d
are especially rich in their geographical coverage: they cover all 64 military
districts of the country.
This immense source enables us to explore the well-being of the popu-
lation living in the interior regions, about which we had hitherto very little
evidence. We selected a random sample corresponding to the military dis-
tricts of the five northwest provinces- Santiago del Estero, Catamarca,Tucu-
mân, Salta, and Jujuy- taken in fixed proportions. The data consist of two
subsamples: a larger sample, 4,600 observations from 44 departamentos for
the initial and final birth cohorts, in 1916 and 1951; and a smaller sample,
2,800 cases from 28 departamentos for three intermediate years, 1929, 1934,
and 1943. The samples include only recruits born in these selected years.
The larger sample allows us to estimate the long-run trend in stature, includ-
ing greater regional diversity than any alternative measurement of income or
wages. The smaller sample was designed to capture the effect on net nutri-
tion of two important discontinuities in Argentine history: the Great Depres-
sion, a period of dramatic decreases in Argentina's export revenues, and
the advent of Peronism, a political regime that stimulated industrialization,
favored workers' rights, and promoted income redistribution. Both samples
include districts that were industrial and urban as well as districts that were
primarily agricultural and rural.

Almost half of all recruits were unskilled manual laborers (peons, jorna-
lerosy obreros, and servants) in 1916 as well as in 1951 (see Table 1). The pro-
portion of employees and clerks also remained fairly constant (8-9%). The
process of modernization, however, generated some changes in the struc-
ture of occupations. The proportion of students, teachers, and professionals
increased almost three times, while the proportion of skilled workers doubled.
By contrast, the proportion of independent producers (farmers, livestock
raisers, and merchants) decreased from 32 to 16%.
Other attributes, such as illiteracy, urbanization, and special skills (ability
to drive an automobile), also reflected the processes of modernization of the
region. Half of the recruits born in 1951 came from urban areas, whereas
of those born in 1916, only 7% were of urban origin. The illiteracy rate
decreased significantly in this period (from 22 to 9%) while the proportion
of recruits who drove motor vehicles rose from 8 to 19%. Recruits' medical
condition also changed over time, but the meaning of this attribute is more
difficult to ascertain. The proportion of recruits with some physical disability
(unacceptable for military service) declined from 35 to 25%.7
Table 1 Sample composition
Birth year
1916 1951
Cases % Cases %
Larger sample
Province
Tucumân 920 19.8 943 20.3
Santiago del Estero 1,283 27.6 1,189 25.6
Catamarca 806 17.3 785 16.9
Salta 1,072 23.1 1,139 24.5
Jujuy 549 11.8 588 12.6
Other northern provinces 16 0.3 9 0.1
Total 4,646 100 4,653 100
Age
17 113 2.4 318 6.8
18 4,352 93.7 4,333 93.1
19 173 3.7 2 0
20 8 0 0 0
Occupation
Unskilled laborer 2,288 49.2 2,292 49.3
Skilled worker 267 5.7 521 11.2
Employee 372 8.1 433 9.3
Independent producer 1,489 32 760 16.3
Student, teacher, prof 230 4.9 645 13.9
Other attributes
Urban born 310 6.7 2,327 50
Illiterate 1,038 22.3 417 9
Rides horse 4,306 92.7 3,791 81.5
Drives cars 388 8.3 901 19.4
Physically disabled 1,659 35.7 1,234 26.5
1929 1934 1943
Cases % Cases % Cases %
Smaller sample
Province
Tucumân 640 22.9 640 22.9 638 22.8
Santiago del Estero 600 21.4 641 22.9 602 21.5
Catamarca 500 17.8 490 17.5 500 17.8
Salta 630 22.5 580 20.7 631 22.5
Jujuy 430 15.4 424 15.2 429 15.3
Other northern provinces 19 0.7
Total 2,800 100 2,794 100 2,800 100
Table 1 (continued)
1929 1934 1943
Cases % Cases % Cases %
Occupation
Unskilled laborer 1,607 58.0 1,576 56.4 1,541 55.0
Skilled worker 220 7.9 275 9.8 286 10.2
Employee 225 9.2 157 5.6 184 6.6
Independent producer 621 22.4 664 23.8 582 20.8
Student, teacher, prof 66 2.4 121 4.3 207 7.4
Total 2,769 100 2,794 100 2,800 100
Note: Some totals equal 100 due to rounding.
Because military service was compulsory an

themselves to the registration offices for a me
months of their 18th birthday, the samples taken
truncation problem. Young men, short and tall,
enrollment offices. The absence of a minimum h
plying with military instruction is a great advant
subsamples appear to be normally distributed. Of
tion tended to round up height measures, gener
on numbers that are multiples of five.
The results reported in Table 2 control for cha
sition-age, occupation, skills, and urban-rural r
analysis. They show that 18-year-old recruits h
stature, for the few recruits at age 20 were 3.5 t
regressions indicate that there were important d
the region, natives of Salta, for example, being 4
natives of Santiago del Estero in 1916. These diff
decline over time (see Figure 2). Occupational va
ing skills but also socioeconomic background- p
cant for most regressions. The same could be sa
negatively correlated with heights. Urban skills
drive motor vehicles, were positively and consis
ure. And recruits affected by various forms of
disqualified from military service or apt only f
systematically shorter than average.
Table 2 Regression results: Dependent variable: Height (cm)

12 3 4 5
Born Born Born Born Born
1916 1951 1916 1916 1916
Intercept2 167.47*** 167.97*** 167.42*** 167.35*** 167.35***

(800.9) (771.2) (791.6) (766.5) (767.2)
Age 17 -0.23 -0.82* -0.24 -0.15 -0.19
(-0.38) (-2.15) (-0.40) (-0.25) (-0.32)
Age 19 0.57 -0.09 0.58 0.58 0.59
(1.41) (0.6) (1.42) (1.42) (1.45)
Age 20 3.76* - 3.91* 3.59* 3.78*
(2.10) (2.17) (1.99) (2.10)
Skilled worker 0.83* 0.72* 0.75* 0.84* 0.84*
(1.72) (1.91) (2.23) (1.91) (1.94)

Employee 1.29*** 1.63*** 1.19*** 1.28*** 1.30***
(3.54) (4.75) (3.25) (3.51) (3.58)
Independent producer 0.85*** 0.63* 0.87*** 0.85*** 0.82***
(4.06) (2.31) (4.15) (4.0) (3.92)
Student, teacher, professor 2.52*** 3.35*** 2.37*** 2.51*** 2.53***
(5.56) (10.9) (5.13) (5.53) (5.59)
Urban born 1.06** -0.22 0.96* 1.06** 1.05**
(2.48) (-1.07) (2.22) (2.49) (2.48)

Migrant 0.31 -0.68 0.31 0.30 0.35
(0.83) (-0.98) (0.83) (0.80) (0.91)
Illiterate -0.92*** -1.00** -0.89*** -0.91*** -0.90***
(-4.04) (-2.92) (-3.93) (-4.02) (-4.0)

Physically disabled -0.93*** -0.41* -0.93*** -0.96*** -0.95***
(-4.84) (-1.92) (-4.80) (-4.96) (-4.49)
Urban skills (driving) 2.15*** 1.16*** 2.15*** 2.12*** 2.13***
(5.88) (4.56) (5.89) (5.82) (5.84)
BorninTucuman -1.69*** -0.34 -1.74*** -1.52*** -1.57***
(-5.65) (-1.18) (-5.77) (-4.65) (-5.09)

Born in Catamarca -1.53*** 0.12 -1.55*** -1.38*** -1.39***
(-5.43) (0.41) (-5.50) (-4.68) (-4.82)

BorninSalta -4.46*** -0.98*** -4.49*** -4.41*** -4.33***
(-17.3) (-3.57) (-16.7) (-12.7) (-16.0)

Borninjujuy -6.03*** -3.58*** -5.96*** -5.86*** -5.86***
(-18.8) (-10.8) (-19.9) (-17.1) (-12.2)
Population concentration -0.19
(-0.54)
Balanced population growth 0.42
(1.71)
Table 2 (continued)
î 2 3 4 5
1916 1951 1916 1916 1916
Strong emigration 1-00 1.01*

(1.93) (1.94)
Weak emigration ~~0. 1 1
(-0.46)
Immigration 0-27
(0.72)
Bolivian immigrant -0.05
(-0.12)
AT 4,646 4,652 4,646 4,646 4,646
Ri 0.13 0.07 0.13 0.13 0.13
6 7 8 9 1
1916 1929 1934 1943 1951
Constant* 167.29*** 167.72*** 167.77*** 168.14*** 168.1***

(300.5) (336.2) (400.7) (412.2) (390.2)
Age 17 0.53 0.25 0.17 0.42 -1.63**
(0.53) (0.79) (0.52) (0.16) (-3.31)
Age 19-20 2.31** -0.92 1.09 1.27
(2.65) (-0.78) (0.84) (1.67)
Skilled worker 0.73 1.62*** 0.94* 0.99* 1.39***
(1.16) (3.55) (2.19) (2.34) (3.31)
Employee 1.42** 2.23*** 1.62*** 1.64*** 1.75***
(2.64) (5.34) (3.12) (3.49) (3.33)
Independent producer 1.01*** 1.43*** 1.04*** 0.79* 0.83*
(3.88) (4.73) (3.52) (2.33) (2.3)
Student, teacher, professor 2.85*** 4.32*** 1.48** 2.56*** 3.2***
(3.44) (5.62) (2.52) (5.59) (7.37)
BorninTucuman -1.54*** -2.05*** -0.76* -0.91* -0.38
(-4.32) (-6.09) (-2.20) (-2.33) (-0.88)
BorninSalta -4.38*** -3.33*** -2.5*** -2.15*** -0.14
(-12.5) (-9.43) (-7.02) (-5.72) (-0.29)
Borninjujuy -6.01*** -5.05*** -4.3*** -4.58*** -3.71***
(-15.5) (-12.4) (-10.9) (-11.2) (-8.72)
BorninCatamarca -1.99*** -1.13*** -0.98** -0.89* -0.01
(-5.58) (-3.08) (-2.66) (-2.29) (-0.005)
Illiterate -0.49 -0.88*** -0.59 -0.68 -1.24
(-1.75) (-2.64) (-1.59) (-1.76) (-2.81)
Table 2 (continued)
6 7 8 9
1916 1929 1934 1943 1951
Urban skills 1.84*** 1.83*** 2.95*** 0.99** -0.37
(3.51) (3.19) (5.31) (2.53) (-1.07)

Physically disabled -0.98*** -1.19*** -1.55*** -0.98** -0.24
(-3.97) (-4.72) (-5.72) (-2.61) (-0.82)
N 2,790 2,768 2,794 2,800 2,658
#2 0.12 0.10 0.07 0.07 0.06
11 12
Born Born
1916-51 1916-51
Sugarcane Self-Sufficient
Constant" 164.01*** 164.07***
(524.2) (755.5)
Age 17
0.52 0.06
(1.70) (0.31)
Age 19-20 -0.07 1.14*
(-0.08) (2.31)
Born 1929 0.95*** 1.07***
(3.34) (6.15)
Born 1934 1.59*** 1.43***
(5.60) (8.22)
Born 1943 1.86*** 1.86***
(6.43) (10.5)
Born 1951 2.37*** 2.64***
(8.05) (14.8)
Skilled worker 0.50 0.79**
(1.66) (3.77)
Employee 1.69*** 1.21***
(5.58) (5.34)
Independent producer 1 .17*** 1.33***
(4.06) (9.94)
Student, teacher, professor 2.58*** 2.64***
(6.47) (10.4)
Illiterate -0.92*** -0.43**
(-3.45) (-2.70)
Rural skills 0.15 0.74**
(0.69) (4.40)
Table 2 (continued)
11 12
Born Born
1916-51 1916-51
Sugarcane Self-Sufficient
Urban skills 1.43*** 0.82**
(4.87) (4.05)
Physically disabled -0.87*** - 1 .07***
(-4.59) (-8.59)
N 5,040 5,980
/?2 0.06 0.04
Note: ^-statistics in parenthese

aConstant refers to 18-year-old,
bConstant refers to 18-year-old
cConstant refers to 18-year-old,
significant at 5% level
significant at 1% level
significant at 0.1% level
Regression results ar
laborers born in Sant
centimeters- under d
the large (regression
produces minimal var
1916 and 1951. These
ages, weighting prov
equivalent to the popu
Looking at regression
sion that little or no
results, the reader sh
Santiago del Estero. S
the northwest, for t
in terms of stature g
Results
Trend. During the fir

experienced an impro
age stature of unskill
Figure 2 Heights of 18-year-old skilled workers, by province and birth year

Source: Regressions 6-10, Table 2.
to 167.2 centimeters (Table 3). The improvement in net nutrition was much
greater in Salta and Jujuy than in Catamarca and Santiago del Estero. This
may be related to greater economic diversification within the region. Salta
and Jujuy were latecomers to the sugar industry that found new sources of
wealth in oil and tobacco starting in the mid-1920s. Catamarca and San-
tiago del Estero were provinces characterized by traditional peasant farming,
which experienced little change in their productive structure. Tucumân, the
original center of the sugar industry and undoubtedly the province with the
highest population density, had an increase in average height quite similar to
the region's average.
The improvement in the biological standard of living in the northwest
implies that one should not speak of delay, stagnation, or involution in well-
being during this period. Recruits born in 1951 consumed greater quantities
of nutrients (or had fewer demands on the energy generated by these nutri-
Table 3 Northwest region - Trend in height (large sample)
Height (cm)
_. , _>. , Change & v (cm) '
Birth _. , year _>. Birth , year & v '
Province 1916 1951 1916-51
Santiago 167.5 168.0 0.5

Tucumân 165.8 168.1 2.3
Catamarca 165.9 167.6 1.7
Salta 163.0 167.0 4.0
Jujuy 161.4 164.4 3.0

Northwest region 165.1 167.2 2.1
Note: Heights refer to unskilled laborer, 18 years old, literate, rur
region is a weighted average using the following weights: Santia
Salta 0.225; Jujuy 0.154.
ents) and lived in a better epidemiological envi

years earlier. Quite likely, before 1939-40, imp
responsible for much of this rise in stature, f
to control endemic diseases, such as goiter, pal
typhus fever, and were unable to control epidem
and other common infectious diseases attacking
monary systems. Infant mortality for the regio
before the end of the 1930s. By 1937, infant m
pointingly high: 151 per thousand in Salta, 199
136 per thousand in Tucumân (Lopez Pondal
period 1939-55 saw significant improvements
quent decline of infant morality (Bolsi and D'A
The lack of regional indicators concerning in
and caloric intake prior to 1970 prevents us, fo
ing the causes for this long-term rise in stature
compatible with the rise in life expectancy in t
whole, life expectancy at birth rose from 37.9 y
1946-48 (Somoza 1971: 28). The corroboration o
contradicts the arguments (made in the late 193
tended, on the basis of impressionistic evide
in economic and biological welfare in the regio
Bunge 1940; Villafane 1927). Another important
related to the process of industrialization and i
narratives place the economic and social stagnation of the northwest as the
main force behind the internal labor migration that, in the 1930s and 1940s,
fed the process of industrialization in the Littoral (see, for example, Germani
1970). In actuality, internal migrants to the Littoral or Pampa region came
from regions whose nutrition and health conditions were improving.
Subperiods. We next consider the evolution of net nutrition in four distinct

subperiods: the postwar period, 1916-29; the Great Depression, 1929-34;
the so-called infamous decade, 1934-43; and the years of Peronism, 1943-51.
As Figure 2 indicates, the northwest region experienced an improvement in
stature in the post- World War I period. The improvement was modest on
average, 0.85 centimeters in 13 years, but some provinces- Catamarca, Salta,
and Jujuy- experienced significant stature growth. Remarkably, the Great
Depression, which brought about a dramatic fall in exports and a short but
severe contraction of economic activity, had no significant impact on the bio-
logical welfare of northwestern recruits. In fact, natives of the region had,
during this period, a modest growth in stature (0.7 centimeters).8 Apparently,
the health and nutritional conditions were quite resilient to shocks within
the export economy.9 Some provinces showed signs of stagnation- Santiago
and Catamarca, peasant economies with high net-emigration rates- but the
region's average height continued to increase. Height increases in Tucumân,
Salta, and Jujuy compensated for the stagnation of growth in the other two
provinces. Tucumân, a province with a poor performance in the prior period,
showed a remarkable reversal during the years of the Great Depression.10
The so-called infamous decade was a period marked by increasing ex-
ploitation, repression, and political exclusion of workers (see Ciria 1969;
Jauretche 1973). During this period, the region showed its worst performance
in terms of nutrition and health. Jujuy showed no increase in heights while
Tucumân and Catamarca increased only 0.2 to 0.5 centimeters. By contrast,
during the Peronist administration (1943-51), heights showed clear signs of
improvement, perhaps as a result of rising levels of wages and more evenly
distributed income. Social transfers, sanitary policies, and a greater enforce-
ment of workers' rights, rather than industrialization, are the factors to be
considered during this period.
Considered from a long-term perspective, the improvement of nutrition
and health conditions during the Peronist era may be viewed - at least in
the northwest- not as a significant discontinuity, but as a return to a rate of
Table 4 Stature change by subperiod (smaller sample) (cm)
Birth year
Province 1916-29 1929-34 1934-43 1943-51 1916-51
Santiago del Estero 0.43 0.05 0.37 -0.04 0.81

Tucumân -0.07 1.33 0.22 0.50 1.98
Catamarca 1.29 0.19 0.47 0.84 2.79
Salta 1.48 0.88 0.72 1.97 5.05
Jujuy 1.41 0.79 0.09 0.83 3.12

Argentine northwest 0.85 0.67 0.39 0.82 2.73
Source: Regressions 6-10, Table 2.
growth already attained during the post- World War I period

important to note that 70% of the increase in stature was attai
advent of Peronism. In terms of biological performance, the
shows no significant difference from the period 1943-51. Cons
should not overemphasize the influence of Peronist sanitary a
tion policies on the welfare of the region. Salta did remarkab
this period, but other provinces had either average (Catamarc
or sluggish (Tucumân) stature growth. And the province that
tallest recruits (Santiago del Estero) experienced stagnating he
According to these findings, the process of import-substit
trialization in the Littoral, starting in the mid-1930s and peaki
1960s, did not affect the long-term evolution of welfare in the
growth in stature before and after 1929-34 was roughly the sa
meters compared with 1.3 centimeters). Hence, one may reaso
that long-term factors- not directly associated with a particu
regime or industrialization drive- influenced the development
welfare in the region. Such factors probably include the disse
information about hygiene, the provision of water and sewage s
ual increases in farm productivity, increased regulation of chil
more diversified diet.
From the early 1920s, the northwest region began to speci

crops- tobacco and beans in Salta, cotton in Santiago del E
exploit more intensely its natural resources- petroleum in Salta
Santiago del Estero- leaving the production of grain and cattl
productive Littoral or Pampa region.11 In Santiago del Estero
cultivated with wheat, maize, and linseed declined from 275,000 hectares in
1930-35 to 211,000 hectares in 1935-40. Cattle stocks also went down as the
competition with the Littoral increased. In the 1930s, only the stock of goats
continued to grow, an indicator of the resilience of the peasant economy. It is
possible, then, that greater specialization in production stimulated by lower
transportation costs also influenced the long-term evolution of biological wel-
fare in the northwest.
Intraregional Convergence. The northwest region experienced a process

of convergence during the period under consideration. Heights in Catamarca,
Tucuman, and Salta converged to the level of Santiago del Estero, the prov-
ince with the tallest population in 1916. However, recruits from Jujuy, affected
by the negative impact of the period 1934-43, failed to catch up with the rest
(Figure 2). Salta, a province that developed its oil industry and turned to a
more diversified agriculture- adding new cash crops, such as tobacco and
beans- had the most impressive long-run performance. Jujuy enjoyed a sig-
nificant improvement in biological welfare and catch-up during the first half
of the period, but its performance slowed subsequently. The range of heights
at the provincial level relative to Santiago was between 1.5 and 6.0 centi-
meters at the beginning of the period, and by 1951 it had declined to between
0 and 3.6 centimeters. Three of the lagging provinces in 1916, Catamarca,
Tucumân, and Salta, had, by 1951, reduced their differences with Santiago
to less than half a centimeter. Convergence also took place at the departmen-
tal (or district) level. Heights, in general, increased faster in those depart-
ments that had lower heights in 1916. Although there is considerable variation
at such a disaggregated level, the hypothesis of beta convergence (a mono-
tonically inverse relationship between the distribution of a variable at the
base period and the growth of this variable during a period of time) among
districts cannot be rejected (Figure 3).12 The inverse relationship between
stature growth during the period 1916-51 and initial average stature in 1916
indicates the presence of beta convergence. This tells us that widespread fac-
tors, such as transportation improvements or sanitary policies, might have
played an important role in homogenizing conditions of nutrition and pub-
lic health within the region. At the same time, Figure 3 warns us against
carrying this hypothesis much further, for a number of districts deviated sig-
nificantly from the convergence path. There, local conditions mattered more
than general tendencies.
Figure 3 Beta-convergence test

Note: Estimated regression line is STGROWTH = 7.556 - 0.434 x STAT1916, r = -0.57.
Social Inequality. During the period under analysis, differences in skills,

education, and social standing translated into important differences in bio-
logical welfare. Illiteracy can be used as a measure of relative poverty. Illiter-
ate recruits came from families who could not invest in their children's basic
instruction. Later on, this placed these youngsters at a disadvantage in the
process of acquiring work skills and hygienic practices. Both in 1916 and in
1951, illiterate recruits were almost a centimeter shorter than literate recruits
(regressions 1 and 2, Table 2). That illiteracy had an impact on stature simi-
lar to that of physical disability- recruits with disabilities were 0.4 to 0.9
centimeters shorter- underlines the importance of basic reading and writing
skills in the acquisition of nutrients and health.
Recruits with skills and education were significantly taller than other
recruits lacking those attributes. Skilled workers were on average 0.7 to 0.8
centimeters taller than unskilled rural laborers. Recruits who were declared
to be farmers or merchants were on average 0.6 to 0.8 centimeters taller than
unskilled rural laborers (Table 2). Employees and clerks were even taller by
1.3 to 1.6 centimeters. By far the largest difference in stature was found com-
pared to students, teachers, and professionals. This group was on average 2.5
to 3.3 centimeters taller than unskilled rural laborers. These recruits, who
Table 5 Difference in stature relative to unskilled laborers
Birth year
Occupational group 1916 1929 1934 1943 1951

Skilled worker 0.74 1.65 0.95 1.00 1.40
Employee 1.42 2.26 1.63 1.71 1.78

Independent producer 1.00 1.42 1.00 0.75 0.81
Student, teacher, professor 2.85 4.35 1.48 2.63 3.23
Source: Table 2.
constituted 14% of the larger sample in 1951, clearly came from the middle
classes. The fact that they were able to attend high school separated them
from the rest of the recruits.
Differences in occupational skills and qualifications, important determi-

nants of the distribution of personal income, were also crucial factors in the
distribution of nutrients. Families that could afford secondary education for
their children produced recruits 2 to 3 centimeters taller than average; simi-
larly, recruits with modern skills, such as being able to drive a motor vehicle,
were 1.1 to 1.2 centimeters taller than those who did not possess those skills.
In short, education and skills were key ingredients in the matrix of inequality
in biological welfare. Well-provided family tables and a childhood and ado-
lescence without much physical labor allowed children of the middle class to
grow taller.
These social differences did not tend to disappear over time. Apparently,
stature differences based upon skill and education were more persistent than
those based upon place of birth. Periods of economic growth tended to pro-
duce divergence in this crucial indicator of social inequality. Conversely, peri-
ods of economic crisis such as the Great Depression tended to reduce social
differences (Table 5). The two middle-class groups, including employees and
students and teachers, increased their lead relative to unskilled workers dur-
ing periods of economic growth, 1916-29 and 1934-51. To a lesser degree, the
same was true with other social groups, such as skilled workers and the sons
of independent producers.13
Other inequalities were less persistent. Urbanization, for instance, was
at the beginning a clear advantage but, over time, it became a factor without
much influence in average stature. In the 1916 birth cohort, urban recruits
were one centimeter taller than those born in rural areas. In the 1951 cohort,
Table 6 Differences in stature between recruits from the northwest and recruits from
Buenos Aires
Birth year Northwest Buenos Aires Difference

1916 165.00 168.27 -3.27
1929 166.05 169.47 -3.42
1934 166.5 170.21 -3.71
1943 167.1 170.45 -3.35
1951 167.8 n/a n/a
Source: For Buenos Aires (capital c

Note: Figures are crude means.
this was no longer the c

vanished (Table 2, regres
Extraregional Converge
recruits born in 1924, th
northwest and recruits b
age, the northwestern re
in the Pampa region. The
for those born in Jujuy
2000). Unfortunately, we
period. However, we can
of Buenos Aires as a basis
brought about no conver
and Buenos Aires (Table
differences between thes
ing that economic develo
ally equalizing force. Thi
stimulated migrations fr
A persistent stature dif
despite greater economic
of living remained quite d
This result- nonconverge
mates of life expectancy
tancy of 61.4 years by 1
age of 51.1 years- a quite
regional lag in reducing m
tary authorities in the northwest to control infectious and parasitical dis-

eases, particularly among children 0-5 years of age (Muller 1958).14 Similarly,
endemic disease continued to preoccupy northwestern functionaries until the
mid-1920s. By 1922-23, the Tucumân government was busily trying to eradi-
cate the swamps that were considered the breeding grounds for paludic fever
(malarial disease), while Salta and Jujuy were still dealing with the problem
of goiter (Molina de Munoz and Garcia Calderôn 1996).
Other Factors (Migrations, Ethnicity, Sugar Industry). Indicators of

population pressure were not directly associated with stature. The introduc-
tion of district-level dummy variables for net emigration or relatively low
demographic growth did not produce statistically significant coefficients. We
obtained the same negative results using the classification of departments
suggested by Zulma Recchini de Lattes and Alfredo Lattes (1969)- areas of
moderate to strong net emigration- as when we tried the classification sug-
gested by Roberto Pucci (1997)- areas of demographic growth lower than the
natural rate.15 Contrary to expectations, areas of net emigration did not corre-
late with areas of shorter-than-average stature (regressions 3 and 4, Table 2).
Another important result pertains to the ethnicity question. A dummy
variable was introduced to identify departments that, during this period,
received large inflows of immigrants from neighboring countries (mostly
from Bolivia). This dummy variable had no significant influence upon aver-
age heights (regression 5, Table 2). Although according to common wisdom
people from Salta and Jujuy are shorter because of their genetic stock (greater
intermarriage with Bolivian immigrants), this intuition does not stand up
against the evidence. Salta and Jujuy, in spite of the "ethnic factor," increased
significantly their mean stature over the period 1916-51. This improvement
was associated with changes in real income, employment, diets, or child labor,
rather than with changes in the ethnic composition of their populations.
Next, the influence of the sugar industry on nutrition was tested. Tra-
ditionally, sugar lobbyists had presented the sugar industry as a beneficial
influence that rescued the Tucumân peasantry from poverty as a source of
employment and as an outlet for sugarcane that allowed peasants to retain
their small lots (Centro Azucarero Regional 1955). On the other extreme
were social critics who found living conditions of sugar ingenios appalling and
blamed the sugar industry for much of the poverty they observed (Delich
1970). Our results contradict both arguments. The trend in stature in areas
Figure 4 Trend in physical stature in sugarcane and self-sufficient peasant agricultural

areas
Source: Regressions 11 and 12, Table 2. Note: Unskilled laborers.
where sugarcane was the predominant crop was not much different
of regions with self-sufficient peasant economies, that is, districts
duced goats and other agricultural commodities for their own con
(Figure 4). Hence, the assertion that the sugar industry changed (
or for worse) the welfare of the region needs to be seriously recon
Within the sugarcane region, there were significant and enduring d
among provinces. For the entire period, 1916-51, recruits born in s
of Tucuman were 1.6 centimeters taller on average than those bor
areas of Salta and 2.6 centimeters taller than those born in sugar
Jujuy (regressions 11 and 12, Table 2).
In short, nutritional deficiencies expressed by average stature
important push factors in interregional migration. Ethnic factors (as mea-

sured by immigration from Bolivia) played a marginal role in determining
average stature, and areas affected by the sugar economy had no different bio-
logical performance than self-sufficient peasant economies of Santiago and
Catamarca.
Conclusion
According to our height evidence, nutritional status in the northwest im-

proved significantly between 1916 and 1951, even if it did not catch up to that
of the population of Buenos Aires city. While there was convergence in physi-
cal stature within the northwest, there was no such convergence between the
northwest and the Littoral or Pampa region. Intraregional convergence is
consistent with the traditional view that, starting in the mid-1920s, income
and employment rose faster in Salta and Jujuy, newcomers to the sugar indus-
try, than in Tucuman, the province where the ingenio system first developed.
But, data on stature provide additional information about districts overlooked
by traditional economic histories: Santiago del Estero and Catamarca, peas-
ant economies that complemented their incomes with mining and forestry.
The stagnation of Santiago's nutritional status during these 35 years or, the
other side of the coin, the catch-up experienced by Tucumân, Salta, and
Catamarca merits further investigation.
The data presented here also speak to the issue of inequality in a region
lacking indicators of income and wealth, at least during this period. The evi-
dence confirms the existence of large differentials in physical stature among
recruits with different endowments of education, skills, and social position,
without any signs of a narrowing of social inequalities. On the contrary,
periods of economic growth tended to augment these differences. Appar-
ently, persisting social inequalities in access to food and health accompanied
the process of market integration and economic growth in the northwest.
This process occurred independent of an expanding sugar industry, for the
inequalities relate to the more general phenomenon of the formation and spa-
tial distribution of human capital.
The results pertaining to subperiods indicate that the post- World War
I period was important in creating conditions for the improvement of bio-
logical welfare in the northwest. The Great Depression did not have a major
impact on the nutritional status of the population of the region. The decade
that followed- the infamous decade- created stagnation in the stature of

unskilled laborers and continued biological improvement among the mem-
bers of the middling classes. Our estimates tend to diminish the importance of
Peronist industrialization and social policies for the biological welfare of the
northwest working class. Quite likely, the benefits of Peronist income redis-
tribution and socialized medicine benefited primarily residents of industrial
urban areas in the Argentine Littoral. Only further research can put this
tentative hypothesis upon a firmer basis.
Recent studies (Bolsi and D'Arterio 2001) have emphasized the delay of
the demographic transition in the northwest, particularly with regard to the
decline of mortality. InTucumân province, the decline in crude mortality rate
occurred 45 years after the country as a whole (circa 1939 compared to 1895
for the Argentine average). Similarly, the decline in infant mortality in the
northwest was delayed, starting only after 1939. These studies have tended
to attribute the decline in crude death rates as well as in infant mortality
rates to improvements in public health caused by government policies that, at
least partly, were responding to union demands. The new evidence on physi-
cal stature presented here suggests, instead, that important improvements
in the biological standard of living of the population of the northwest began
already in the 1920s- before there were any clear signs of improvement in
the epidemiological environment.
Thus, the nature of the improvement in biological conditions should
be reexamined, not only by reconsidering more carefully the pre-Peronist
period, but also by focusing on factors not directly associated with public
health: real income, transportation costs, food prices, human capital invest-
ment, and immigrant remittances. The presence of intraregional conver-
gence and extraregional nonconvergence presents us with new questions with
regard to the role of market integration, internal migrations, and public
policy in the evolution of regional biological welfare. On the one hand, intra-
regional convergence speaks of a process of market integration in goods and
commodity markets. To what extent the expansion of railroads, and later the
building of roads, stimulated the flow of goods and humans in ways conducive
to increases in human welfare needs to be investigated. It may well be that
this integration was marked at first by the centripetal attraction exerted by
the Tucumân sugar industry, but later, as the economy of the region diversi-
fied, there was a greater dispersion of salaried labor that reduced intraregional
differences in nutrition.
It is also possible that, after the mid-1930s, sanitary policies that had been
successful in the Littoral and in the cities produced beneficial effects in terms
of reducing the risk of disease in early infancy. It is clear that in the 1940s and
1950s, children in the northwest were less exposed to infectious and parasite
diseases and consequently could devote more of their caloric intake to bodily
growth. How much of this was the result of the dissemination of informa-
tion about better diet and hygiene is still unknown. What role did the school
system play in this process? Was there also a significant reduction in child
labor, under the combined pressure of local labor unions and federal state
agencies?
On the other hand, the lack of convergence between the northwest and
Buenos Aires warns us against translating too rapidly the findings of one
region to Argentine society as a whole. The shift from export-led growth to
import-substituting industrialization around the 1930s and early 1940s did
nothing to modify the great concentration of both physical and human capital
in the humid Pampas. The migration of northwestern workers to the Littoral
is one aspect of this process of concentration. A persistent difference in aver-
age stature between the northwest and the Littoral indicates that migrants'
remittances did not compensate the northwest for the loss of human capital.
The investments of the federal state in railroads and schools in the northern
provinces were insufficient to produce a catch-up in income and human wel-

fare. The evidence presented here supports the view of a gradual and long-
term improvement in biological welfare in the northwest, but one that fell
short from achieving the level of the Littoral or Pampa region.
Notes
1 In the text, the Pampa and Littoral regions are used interchangeably. In rigor, the
Littoral area includes only part of the Pampa region: Santa Fe, Entre Rios, and
Buenos Aires.
2 In 1937, Santiago del Estero had the largest portion of land devoted to livestock
raising (48%) and forestry (45%). Farming occupied only 3.7% of the land (Carrillo
and Almonacid 1941). Jujuy province had an incipient mining sector (tin, lead, and
copper), and Salta developed its oil resources starting in the late 1920s.
3 Maria C. Bravo and Daniel Campi (2001) attribute these demands to the loss of
political representation in Congress suffered by the northwest provinces as a result
of the 1912 reform.
4 Villafane organized a series of conferences in which governors of the northwest dis-
cussed the region's problems (1926-27). He later published the results of these con-
ferences in La miseria de un pais rico (1927) and Politica econômica suicida (1927).
5 In two books, El dolor argentino (1938) and Pueblos desamparados (1944), Alfredo Pala-
cios compiled his speeches and essays about the relative backwardness and absolute
destitution of the interior and the northwest. Relevant books by Alejandro Bunge
in this regard are Las industrias del norte (1922), in which he discusses the crises of
regional industries (tobacco, rice, cotton) and the problem of regional migrations,
and Una nueva Argentina (1940), in which he discusses regional differences in eco-
nomic capacity (see especially 209-88). In 1941, the Senate discussed the report of
a special commission designated to inquire about the conditions of the northwest.
The commission reported that the poor provinces were suffering from malnutri-
tion, impoverishment, and increasing emigration of their population (Bazân 1992:
369-77).
6 By direct observation or by the report of other physicians, Palacios reported that
"bocio" (goiter), paludic fever (malarial disease), and brucellosis were common in
the region.
7 It is not clear, however, whether this decline reflected a real improvement in the
medical condition of this age group or whether the military became stricter in grant-
ing exceptions for physical disability.
8 Jialu Wu (1994) reached similar results working with voting registration cards for
Allegheny County, Pennsylvania.
9 Elsewhere (Salvatore forthcoming) I have argued that even in the port city (Buenos
Aires), the nutritional impact of the Great Depression was negligible.
10 Other scholars have reached similar results with regard to the United States (Wu
1994).
11 Later, as a result of World War II (the abrupt interruption in the importation of coal),
the production of charcoal increased substantially, intensifying the exploitation of
the province's woodlands (Carrillo and Almonacid 1941).
12 For a definition of beta convergence see Barro and Sala-i-Martin 1995: 382-413. The
remarkably high performance of districts that were low in rank in 1916, such as
Anta and Rosario de la Frontera in Salta, is somewhat puzzling, as is the low perfor-
mance of districts that in 1916 were among the tallest, such as Silipica and Atamisqui
in Santiago del Estero. Recruits from Anta and Rosario de la Frontera grew more
than 6.0 and 4.5 centimeters in height, respectively. In contrast, heights in Silipica
and Atamisqui (two peasant economies from Santiago del Estero) declined by 2.2
centimeters.
13 I am assuming that those declared to be farmers and merchants at age 18 were in

actuality youngsters working on farms or in mercantile establishments.
14 Statistics about causes of death confirm this view. By 1946-48, between 9 and 13% of
all deaths were caused by infectious and parasitical diseases in the Littoral (Buenos
Aires, Santa Fe, and La Pampa). By contrast, in the northwest, infectious and para-
sitical diseases caused 18 to 25% of registered deaths (Muller 1958: 4).
15 Recchini de Lattes and Lattes classified departments into (a) strong immigration,
(b) weak immigration, (c) weak emigration, (d) moderate emigration, and (e) strong
emigration. They estimated rates of migration growth for the period 1914-47. For the
same period, Pucci classified districts according to their comparative rate of popula-
tion growth: (a) areas that attract population, if the district rate of growth was greater
than the region's natural growth rate, (b) areas with balanced growth, if their growth
rate was near the average natural growth rate, and (c) areas of population expulsion,
if their demographic growth was considerably lower than the average natural rate of
growth.
16 Historical demographers Alfredo Bolsi and J. Patricia D'Alterio (2001) have found a
notable decline in mortality and infant mortality since 1939 and attribute this decline
to the sanitary and social policies implemented by the sugar elite.
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Salvatore, R. - Stature, Nutrition, and Regional Convergence

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Stature, Nutrition, and Regional Convergence: The Argentine Northwest in the First Half

of the Twentieth Century

First Half of the Twentieth Century

According to the traditional account, the northwest region of Argentina ad-

Social Science History 28:2 (summer 2004), 297-324

Figure 1 Map of Pampa and northwest regions of Argentina

Judging by its demographic performance, the northwest provinces

This essay contributes new evidence about economic development and

In 1985, seeking information on 18-year-old draftees born between 1916 an

primarily agricultural and rural.

Table 1 Sample composition

Cases % Cases % Cases %

Cases % Cases % Cases %

Note: Some totals equal 100 due to rounding.

Because military service was compulsory an

Table 2 Regression results: Dependent variable: Height (cm)

Intercept2 167.47*** 167.97*** 167.42*** 167.35*** 167.35***

(1.72) (1.91) (2.23) (1.91) (1.94)

(2.48) (-1.07) (2.22) (2.49) (2.48)

(-4.04) (-2.92) (-3.93) (-4.02) (-4.0)

(-5.65) (-1.18) (-5.77) (-4.65) (-5.09)

(-5.43) (0.41) (-5.50) (-4.68) (-4.82)

(-17.3) (-3.57) (-16.7) (-12.7) (-16.0)

Strong emigration 1-00 1.01*

Constant* 167.29*** 167.72*** 167.77*** 168.14*** 168.1***

Urban skills 1.84*** 1.83*** 2.95*** 0.99** -0.37

(3.51) (3.19) (5.31) (2.53) (-1.07)

Note: ^-statistics in parenthese

Trend. During the fir

Figure 2 Heights of 18-year-old skilled workers, by province and birth year

Table 3 Northwest region - Trend in height (large sample)

Santiago 167.5 168.0 0.5

Jujuy 161.4 164.4 3.0

ents) and lived in a better epidemiological envi

Subperiods. We next consider the evolution of net nutrition in four distinct

Table 4 Stature change by subperiod (smaller sample) (cm)

Province 1916-29 1929-34 1934-43 1943-51 1916-51

Santiago del Estero 0.43 0.05 0.37 -0.04 0.81

Jujuy 1.41 0.79 0.09 0.83 3.12

growth already attained during the post- World War I period

From the early 1920s, the northwest region began to speci

Intraregional Convergence. The northwest region experienced a process

Figure 3 Beta-convergence test

Social Inequality. During the period under analysis, differences in skills,

Table 5 Difference in stature relative to unskilled laborers

Occupational group 1916 1929 1934 1943 1951

Employee 1.42 2.26 1.63 1.71 1.78

Differences in occupational skills and qualifications, important determi-

Birth year Northwest Buenos Aires Difference

1951 167.8 n/a n/a

Source: For Buenos Aires (capital c

this was no longer the c

tary authorities in the northwest to control infectious and parasitical dis-

Other Factors (Migrations, Ethnicity, Sugar Industry). Indicators of

Figure 4 Trend in physical stature in sugarcane and self-sufficient peasant agricultural

Source: Regressions 11 and 12, Table 2. Note: Unskilled laborers.

important push factors in interregional migration. Ethnic factors (as mea-

According to our height evidence, nutritional status in the northwest im-

that followed- the infamous decade- created stagnation in the stature of

provinces were insufficient to produce a catch-up in income and human wel-

4 Villafane organized a series of conferences in which governors of the northwest dis-

13 I am assuming that those declared to be farmers and merchants at age 18 were in

Balân, Jorge (1978) "Una cuestiôn regional en la Argentina: Burguesias provinciales y el

Intercept2 167.47* 167.97* 167.42* 167.35* 167.35***

Constant* 167.29* 167.72* 167.77* 168.14* 168.1***

Urban skills 1.84* 1.83* 2.95* 0.99 -0.37