An Universal Model of Health and Work Output: Theoretical Structure and Testing Strategy

The model proposed in this paper presents a broad range of factors to predict individual human work output. The predictors include aerobic capacity, body size, motivation, work pattern, social environment and social network, caloric intake, drug and alcohol use, stress resistance and thermoregulation. Health is a major intervening variable, and its relationship to work output is a special concern of this research. We suggest that this model may be used as a template to explain human productivity in most societies. Its universality can be subjected to rigorous testing in a range of settings from tropical upland swidden horticulturalists to urban workers in a northern industrialized country. Observations are offered on some of those testing sites and on methodological issues implicit in research of this breadth. A major pilot study of urban Chinese workers has already demonstrated the predictive power of the model in one setting.