Booktalk with Daniel Franken

Economic History of Living Standards in Brazil: Policy, Health, and Environment, 1850–1950 (Routledge Explorations in Economic History, 2024)

CHS-member Daniel Franken will present his new book, in which he explores the evolution of health and living standards in Brazil in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, taking into account political, economic, and environmental factors. It draws on anthropometric data and an interdisciplinary approach to illuminate the profound socio-economic transformations that took place in Brazil during this period. It also offers new insights into Brazil’s regional development divide, and innovative methods that confirm the observed longitudinal trends and spatial patterns in stature. Apart from scholars and students of historical anthropometrics, living standards, and Brazilian history, this book will be of interest to those with a general curiosity about Latin American or economic history.

Commentator: Vincent Tassenaar

Moderator: Arie van Steensel