In 1979, when anthropometric history was still in its infancy, Robert Fogel and collaborators reported that the height of the U. S. male white population began to decline quite unexpectedly in the Antebellum era. This was quite a conundrum on account of the fact that according to conventional economic theory nutritional status was not expected to diminish at the outset of modern economic growth, i.e., at a time when incomes were growing robustly. Although many hypotheses were presented, not until 1987 was the comprehensive solution to the puzzle offered that the height decline was due primarily to a decrease in food consumption: agricultural productivity did not keep pace with rapid population growth and urbanization. However, it took another quarter of a century for a paradigm shift to occur before the developmental model elucidated by Komlos in 1987 was accepted.
