Biological Welfare and Nutritional Inequality in Rural Mediterranean Spain: The Irrigated Area of Valencia, 1859-1939

This article analyses the biological welfare and inequality of the male population of the irrigated area of Valencia between 1859 and 1939. It studies the effects that the agrarian development process had on physical welfare and the relationship between height and access to land ownership. Height data for conscripts in five municipalities constitute the source for the study. The results reveal that there was a growing trend in the evolution of heights in the irrigated area of Valencia at the beginning of agrarian capitalism. Nutritional inequalities can be observed between farmers and farm workers: land owners were taller than landless labourers. However, this biological inequality diminished over the period under study.Este artículo analiza el bienestar y la desigualdad biológica de la población masculina del regadío valenciano entre 1859 y 1939. Estudia los efectos que el proceso de desarrollo agrario tuvo en el bienestar físico, y la relación entre estatura y acceso a la propiedad de la tierra. Los datos de estatura de los mozos de cinco municipios constituyen la principal fuente utilizada. Los resultados revelan que la evolución de las estaturas en las áreas del regadío valenciano fue creciente en los comienzos del capitalismo agrario. Se observan desigualdades nutricionales entre campesinos con y sin tierras: los primeros eran más altos siempre que los jornaleros sin tierras. Sin embargo, la desigualdad biológica tendió a disminuir durante el periodo de estudio.This article has been financed by funds corresponding to the research projects: HAR2013-47182-C2-2-P, ECO2015-65582, ECO2015-71534-REDT, ECO2016-74940-P and HAR2016-76814-C2-2-P, financed by the MEC-MICINN; 19512/PI/14, financed by the Fundación Séneca, Agency of Science and Technology of the Region of Murcia; and by the consolidated research groups «Econometric model selection» and «Agri-food economic history (XIXXX centuries)», financed by the Department of Science, Technology and Universities of the Government of Aragon and the European Regional Development Fund