Michael; Morse, Donald J. High fertility, high emigration,
low nuptiality: adjustment processes in Scotland's demographic
experience, 1861-1914, Part II. Population Studies, Vol. 47, No.
2, Jul 1993. 319-43 pp. London, England. In Eng.
The authors interpret the reasons for observed differences in demographic characteristics and processes between Scotland and England during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. "Four Scottish regional case studies are examined, each of which shows a different combination of nuptiality, marital fertility and out-migration. In studying each case, stress is laid on the ways in which the prevailing demographic regime, if it is examined as an interrelated whole, can be seen as involving highly appropriate adjustments to the ecological, economic, and institutional contexts of the region....The much lower nuptiality in Scotland compared to England is explained in part by reference to constraints on access to housing and the very limited availability of any support from the Poor Law, and in part through limited economic opportunities in a more slowly growing economy."
For Part I, also published in 1993, see 59:20608.
Correspondence: M. Anderson, University of Edinburgh, Department of Economic and Social History, William Robertson Building, George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9JY, Scotland. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
Ole J. Plague in the late medieval Nordic countries:
epidemiological studies. ISBN 82-91114-00-5. 1992. 329 pp.
Middelalderforlaget: Oslo, Norway. In Eng.
The author analyzes the spread and demographic impact of plague in Scandinavia in the Middle Ages. The central issue studied is whether an epidemic disease spread by rats and fleas could have spread effectively in sparsely populated rural areas. The author concludes that "plague has special properties as an epidemic disease which enabled it to spread with extreme efficiency in the rural areas of medieval and early modern Europe. There are special patterns of social behaviour which [explain] effective local spread and patterns of trade and settlement which [explain] effective dissemination at a distance. Recurrence explains both the extent of population decline and the persistence of the diminution."
Correspondence: Middelalderforlaget, P.O. Box 80 Blindern, 0314 Oslo, Norway. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
Jean-Noel. A new synthesis of the population history of
Japan. [Le point sur l'histoire de la population du Japon.]
Population, Vol. 48, No. 2, Mar-Apr 1993. 443-72 pp. Paris, France. In
Fre. with sum. in Eng; Spa.
"During the last 15 years historical demographers have completely revised and extended our knowledge of the population history of Japan. New synthesis is attempted in the present paper, as far as total numbers of inhabitants and fluctuations in population movement are concerned." The period considered is 300 B.C. to the present, including some projections to the year 2000.
Correspondence: J.-N. Biraben, Institut National d'Etudes Demographiques, 27 rue du Commandeur, 75675 Paris Cedex 14, France. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
Carl. The statistics of population in Liberal Italy.
Bollettino di Demografia Storica, No. 16, 1992. 7-33 pp. Pisa, Italy.
"In this paper I shall deal with the...official collection of demographic data in Liberal Italy, [with a focus on the]...political and theoretical aspects of the Italian statistics of the period." The study covers the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
Picard-Tortorici, Nathalie; Francois, Michel. The
slave trade in Gabon from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century:
an attempt at quantification for the eighteenth century. [La
traite des esclaves au Gabon du XVIIe au XIXe siecle: essai de
quantification pour le XVIIIe siecle.] Les Etudes du CEPED, No. 6, ISBN
2-87762-055-7. Jun 1993. 156 pp. Centre Francais sur la Population et
le Developpement [CEPED]: Paris, France. In Fre. with sum. in Eng.
This study is primarily concerned with the slave trade in Western Africa. Following a general introduction to the slave trade as a whole, the authors look at the case of Gabon. They then attempt to quantify the extent of this trade in Gabon during the eighteenth century. In a final chapter, they estimate the demographic impact of the trade, and conclude that "by its cumulative effects, slave trade in Gabon has...deeply and lastingly modified the demographic equilibrium, producing an echoing series of under-represented cohorts. It also has significantly disorganized family structure and destabilized traditional behaviour."
Correspondence: Centre Francais sur la Population et le Developpement, 15 rue de l'Ecole de Medecine, 75270 Paris Cedex 06, France. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
Kevin; Arkell, Tom. Surveying the people: the
interpretation and use of document sources for the study of population
in the later seventeenth century. A Local Population Studies
Supplement, ISBN 0-904920-24-0. 1992. xv, 308 pp. Leopard's Head Press:
Oxford, England. In Eng.
The authors examine "four key sources for the study of population [of England] in the later seventeenth century: the assessments and/or returns for the Hearth tax, Compton census, Poll taxes and Marriage Duty Act. It provides details of the legislative background and administrative framework for these important sources and discusses some of the main problems involved in their use and interpretation. Subsequent chapters illustrate how the surviving documents can be applied to illuminate various research issues. These include the social structure of the City of London, the household composition of King's Lynn, the distribution of nonconformity in Devon, some regional variations in household structure and critiques of the work of Gregory King."
Correspondence: Leopard's Head Press, 2a Polstead Road, Oxford OX2 6TN, England. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
Noel. Time series in historical demography.
[Temporalites en demographie historique.] Histoire et Mesure, Vol. 6,
No. 1-2, 1991. 137-48, 212 pp. Paris, France. In Fre. with sum. in Eng.
The author examines the use of time series data in historical research, particularly in historical demography. He explains how mathematical techniques can be used to study the dynamics of historical populations. He also uses demographic data from England and France to show how the relationships among demographic, economic, and climatic events have influenced the course of political events. Specific attention is given to factors affecting fertility in seventeenth-century France.
Location: Princeton University Library (PR).
Jim. Back projection and inverse projection: members of a
wider class of constrained projection models. Population Studies,
Vol. 47, No. 2, Jul 1993. 245-67 pp. London, England. In Eng.
"Constrained by estimated population totals and observed totals of births and deaths, estimates of age-structures from inverse projection have been widely used in historical demography. Back Projection attempted, by using hypothetical constraints on net-migration, to estimate the population totals as well, and has been used to derive 'censuses' for England from 1541 to 1871. A wider formulation, called Generalised Inverse Projection, is proposed in this paper, which replaces back-projection and establishes its relation to Inverse Projection more clearly. Under the same assumptions as back projection, but using the new method, the estimates for England are virtually unchanged. This new method is capable of performing population projections, subject to a wide variety of hypothetical and empirical constraints, for contemporary as well as historical data."
Correspondence: J. Oeppen, Cambridge Group for the History of Population and Social Structure, 27 Trumpington Street, Cambridge CB2 1QA, England. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
Audrey. Age checkability and accuracy in the censuses of
six Kentish parishes 1851-81. Local Population Studies, No. 50,
Spring 1993. 19-38 pp. Matlock, England. In Eng.
"The present study investigates the total census populations of six adjacent...parishes [in Kent, England:] Hartlip, Newington, Rainham, Stockbury, Upchurch and Lower Halstow, over the five censuses 1841-81, in relation to the data from the parish registers of the six....For this study two different methods of calculation were used. The first was...a straight check on the given age of all who could be identified as appearing in two consecutive censuses....[The] other method was designed to ascribe a probable age to each person whose age was checkable." The two techniques are compared and the extent and nature of inaccuracies in age reporting is assessed.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).