Early-life environment, height and BMI of young men in Italy.

This paper explores the relationship between the two main dimensions of early-life environment, namely disease burden (measured by infant mortality) and economic conditions (measured by income or consumption per capita), and height and body-mass index (BMI) for six annual cohorts of young Italian men born between 1973 and 1978. By combining micro-level data on height and weight with regional- and province-level information, we are able to link individual height and BMI at age 18 to regional and provincial averages of environmental variables in the year of birth. Our results are consistent with the hypothesis that, in rich low-mortality settings, the negative effects of childhood disease dominate the positive selection effects of mortality.

Secular trend and regional differences in the stature of Italians, 1854-1980.

We present 127 years of data on the physical stature of military conscripts born in Italy during 1854-1980, as well as an analysis of regional variations in height (for birth cohorts born during 1927-1980). The height of young men has increased in all regions of Italy. The secular trend and the regional changes in stature are correlated with economic growth and a general improvement of living conditions.