Richard Hall Steckel (born 1944) is an American

heterodox In religion, heterodoxy (from Ancient Greek: , "other, another, different" + , "popular belief") means "any opinions or doctrines at variance with an official or orthodox position". Under this definition, heterodoxy is similar to unorthodoxy, w ...

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this field there are ...

with a focus on

economic history Economic history is the academic learning of economies or economic events of the past. Research is conducted using a combination of historical methods, statistical methods and the application of economic theory to historical situations and i ...

. Steckel is the SBS Distinguished Professor of Economics, Anthropology and History at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best pu ...

(OSU) and a research associate at the

National Bureau of Economic Research The National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) is an American private nonprofit research organization "committed to undertaking and disseminating unbiased economic research among public policymakers, business professionals, and the academic c ...

(NBER). He is well known for his work on

health Health, according to the World Health Organization, is "a state of complete physical, mental and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity".World Health Organization. (2006)''Constitution of the World Health Organiza ...

and

well-being Well-being, or wellbeing, also known as wellness, prudential value or quality of life, refers to what is intrinsically valuable relative ''to'' someone. So the well-being of a person is what is ultimately good ''for'' this person, what is in t ...

, in which he is a major contributor to

anthropometric history Anthropometric history is the study of the history of human height and weight. The concept was formulated in 1989 although it has historical roots. In the 1830s, Adolphe Quetelet and Louis R. Villermé studied the physical stature of populations. ...

along with

John Komlos John Komlos (born 28 December 1944) is an American economic historian of Hungarian descent and former holder of the chair of economic history at the University of Munich. Personal life Komlos was born in 1944 in Budapest in Hungary during the ...

. Their work was highlighted in a 1996 ''Time'' magazine front page article. Between 2004 and 2005 he served as president of the Social Science History Association.National Bureau of Economic Research: Richard Steckel
(Accessed Dec 2011) Steckel earned an A.B. in economics at Oberlin College in 1966, M.A.s in economics and mathematics at the

University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , pr ...

(OU) in 1970, a M.A. and a Ph.D. in economics at the

University of Chicago The University of Chicago (UChicago, Chicago, U of C, or UChi) is a private university, private research university in Chicago, Illinois. Its main campus is located in Chicago's Hyde Park, Chicago, Hyde Park neighborhood. The University of Chic ...

in 1973 and 1977, respectively. He began as an instructor in economics at OSU in 1974, became an assistant professor in 1981, was promoted to professor in 1989, and was named SBS Distinguished Professor in 2004. He is a research associate of NBER since 1982 and serves the Conference on Research on Income and Wealth since 1989. He has served as a visiting fellow at

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; the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 mill ...

; the

University of Munich The Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (simply University of Munich or LMU; german: link=no, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München) is a public research university in Munich, Bavaria, Germany. Originally established as the University of ...

;

Flinders University of South Australia Flinders University is a public research university based in Adelaide, South Australia, with a footprint extending across 11 locations in South Australia and the Northern Territory. Founded in 1966, it was named in honour of British navigator M ...

, and

Harvard University Harvard University is a private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1636 as Harvard College and named for its first benefactor, the Puritan clergyman John Harvard, it is the oldest institution of high ...

Selected publications

* Steckel, Richard H. and Jerome C. Rose (eds.) (2002). ''The Backbone of History: Health and Nutrition in the Western Hemisphere''. New York: Cambridge University Press. * Haines, Michael and Richard H. Steckel (eds.) (2000). ''A Population History of North America''. New York: Cambridge University Press. * Steckel, Richard H. and Roderick Floud (eds.) (1997). Health and Welfare during Industrialization. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. * Steckel, Richard H. (1985). The Economics of U.S. Slave and Southern White Fertility. New York: Garland Press.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Steckel, Richard H. 1944 births Living people Economic historians Oberlin College alumni University of Oklahoma alumni University of Chicago alumni Ohio State University faculty Auxologists Presidents of the Economic History Association

Selected publications

See also

References