Alongside Vadim Kufenko (partner in all crimes) and Alex Arsenault Morin, we have organized the prison records of Quebec City between 1813 and 1848 to measure the heights of the prisonners. Our aim is to study the presence of differences in biological living standards across ethnic lines over time in Quebec and use this measure as an crude indicator of inequality and overall living standards. The paper is at present a short note (a few thousand words) which we have submitted to different conferences (Economic History Society and Economic and Business History Society). We will lengthen the note to a paper once comments have been provided.
In the meantime, here are the preliminary results illustrated and the abstract of our submission to EHS and EBHS conferences is here.
The figure shows the heights in inches by year of imprisonment of males above 20 years of age according to ethnic origin.
Vincent Geloso 