Occupational mobility and biological well-being: A perspective over three generations in rural Spain, 1835–1959

Abstract

This article analyses the effects of occupational mobility on biological well-being from a long-term perspective. While it is well known that occupation and heights were closely related in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, our analysis shows that variations in the occupational status of parents and social mobility relative to grandparents also help to explain the evolution of biological well-being in subsequent generations. Drawing on data on height and socio-economic status for almost 4000 individuals born between 1835 and 1959, this paper analyzes the effects of occupational changes on statures over three generations in a period when opportunities for access to land improved in rural Spain. Our results indicate that (1): there was a strong positive relationship between fathers' occupational status and children's biological well-being; (2) improvements in the parental socioeconomic status had a rapid impact on the height of the male children if this improvement occurred during the period when the sons were growing up, and (3) the social mobility of parents in relation to grandparents also had a noticeable effect on the height of their children.