Three essays on nutrition and growth: the case of Italy: 1880-1960

The thesis studies the standards of living of Italians from the nutritional point of view through the use of micro and macro data on family expenditure. The thesis is composed by three papers: 1. ‘The Evolution of food consumption in Italy, 1861-2001. Analysis of macro data’ which studies the trend of macro variables related to the families’ nutrition and food consumption; 2. ‘Food Expenditure as a measure of the Italian Standards of Living, 1890-1960’ analyses the evolution of food expenditure in Italy through the use of micro data coming from family budgets; 3. ‘Expenditure Pattern in Italy, 1875-1960. A complete quadratic demand system estimation with demographic variables’ studies how family expenditure choices depend on a set of variables related to the prices of goods, to the total expenditure and to family size and composition. The thesis studies the standards of living of Italians from the nutritional point of view through the use of micro and macro data on family expenditure. The thesis is composed by three papers: 1. ‘The Evolution of food consumption in Italy, 1861-2001. Analysis of macro data’ which studies the trend of macro variables related to the families’ nutrition and food consumption; 2. ‘Food Expenditure as a measure of the Italian Standards of Living, 1890-1960’ analyses the evolution of food expenditure in Italy through the use of micro data coming from family budgets; 3. ‘Expenditure Pattern in Italy, 1875-1960. A complete quadratic demand system estimation with demographic variables’ studies how family expenditure choices depend on a set of variables related to the prices of goods, to the total expenditure and to family size and composition.