Stéphane Gauthier (Paris School of Economics)
We examine how wheat prices affect the height distribution of 20-year-old French conscripts born between 1886 and 1892. Prices prevailing during adolescence (ages 13 to 20) are shown to exert a stronger influence than prices experienced in early childhood. In wheat-producing areas, higher prices are associated with greater adult height, whereas lower price dispersion has a positive effect on average height but yields a more unequal height distribution by benefiting the tallest men. In contrast, in wheat-consuming regions, price increases reduce height, and price dispersion has no significant impact. We exploit the differential effects of prices across height quantiles to provide a quantitative assessment of selection versus scarring mechanisms. Scarring from higher adolescence prices penalizes conscripts in consuming areas while benefiting producers, whereas selection operates only in producing areas and remains limited in magnitude. Evidence from conscripts born earlier in the century (1816-1846) suggest substantially stronger selection and scarring effects originating from childhood price exposure.