Introduction

Longitudinal Analysis of Historical-Demographic Data

Datos Bibliográficos

ID3311571
AutoresGeorge Alter (0000-0003-3823-4972, Institute of Social and Economic Studies of Population), George C Alter, Myron P Gutmann (0000-0002-6808-3573, U.S. National Science Foundation), Susan Hautaniemi Leonard (Susan Hautaniemi Leonard is Research Affiliate, Population Studies Center, and Assistant Research Scientist, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, University of Michigan. She is the author of, with Myron Gutmann and Glenn D. Deane, “Household and Farm Transitions in Environmental Context,” Population and Environment, XXXII (2011), 287–317; with Myron Gutmann, “‘The Farm Should Provide Our Retirement’; Land-Use Plans in the Aging Farm Population of the U.S. Great Plains,” Great), Susan Leonard (0000-0003-2732-1341, Farm Africa), Emily R Merchant (Emily R. Merchant is a doctoral student, Dept. of History, and research area specialist, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, University of Michigan. She is the author of, with Myron P. Gutmann et al., “Introduction,” in Gutmann et al. (eds.), Navigating Time and Space in Population Studies (New York, 2011), 1–17; with Melannie D. Hartman et al., “Impact of Historical Land Use Changes on Greenhouse Gas Exchange in the U.S. Great Plains, 1883–2003,” Ecological Applications, XXI), Emily Klancher Merchant (0000-0003-4747-4177, Alstom (France))
Año2012
Volumen42
Número4
Páginas503-517
Fecha de publicación2012-02-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Journal of Interdisciplinary History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0022-1953 • E-ISSN: 1530-9169
EditorialMIT Press - Journals (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1162/jinh_a_00302
OpenAlexW2040683169
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas6
Referencias citadas20

Understanding the complexity of the historical demographic transition-the secular change from high to low levels of mortality and fertility in Western Europe and the United States during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries-has long been a major goal of historical demography. Recent developments in individual-level life-course databases and longitudinal statistical models have allowed scholars to test ever-more complex hypotheses about the causal factors in demographic change and to develop an increasingly fine-grained image of demographic behavior before, during, and after the transition. Such studies are critical for identifying variation, both between and within societies, obscured by secular trends that appear uniform at the macro-level, and for distinguishing the contingent elements of demographic change from the universal elements. The six articles presented in this special issue bring new substantive and methodological insights to the field of historical demography-revealing the responsiveness of pre-transition fertility to changing contexts, tracking the transmission of new fertility practices, exploring the unevenness of mortality and fertility decline, and documenting the changing role of social institutions in family formation

Demographic change · Demographic economics · Demographic transition · Demographics · Developed country · Economics · Fertility · Geography · Historical demography · Life course approach · Longitudinal data · Political science · Population · Secular variation · Social change · Sociology · Tracking (education) · Demographic Trends and Gender Preferences · Demography · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes · Law · Psychology · Social Psychology