The longevity of famous people from Hammurabi to Einstein
We build a new sample of 300,000 famous people born between Hammurabi's epoch and Einstein's cohort, including their vital dates, occupations, and locations from the Index Bio-bibliographicus Notorum Hominum. We discuss and control for selection and composition biases. We show using this l...
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| Format: | Article |
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Springer Verlag
2015
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| Online Access: | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34416/ |
| _version_ | 1848794848473120768 |
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| author | De la Croix, David Licandro, Omar |
| author_facet | De la Croix, David Licandro, Omar |
| author_sort | De la Croix, David |
| building | Nottingham Research Data Repository |
| collection | Online Access |
| description | We build a new sample of 300,000 famous people born between Hammurabi's epoch and Einstein's cohort, including their vital dates, occupations, and locations from the Index Bio-bibliographicus Notorum Hominum. We discuss and control for selection and composition biases. We show using this long-running consistent database that there was no trend in mortality during most of human history, confirming the existence of a Malthusian epoch; we date the beginning of the steady improvements in longevity to the cohort born in 1640-9, clearly preceding the Industrial Revolution, lending credence to the hypothesis that human capital may have played a significant role in the take-off to modern growth; we find that this timing of improvements in longevity concerns most countries in Europe and most skilled occupations. |
| first_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:22:43Z |
| format | Article |
| id | nottingham-34416 |
| institution | University of Nottingham Malaysia Campus |
| institution_category | Local University |
| last_indexed | 2025-11-14T19:22:43Z |
| publishDate | 2015 |
| publisher | Springer Verlag |
| recordtype | eprints |
| repository_type | Digital Repository |
| spelling | nottingham-344162020-05-04T17:13:57Z https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34416/ The longevity of famous people from Hammurabi to Einstein De la Croix, David Licandro, Omar We build a new sample of 300,000 famous people born between Hammurabi's epoch and Einstein's cohort, including their vital dates, occupations, and locations from the Index Bio-bibliographicus Notorum Hominum. We discuss and control for selection and composition biases. We show using this long-running consistent database that there was no trend in mortality during most of human history, confirming the existence of a Malthusian epoch; we date the beginning of the steady improvements in longevity to the cohort born in 1640-9, clearly preceding the Industrial Revolution, lending credence to the hypothesis that human capital may have played a significant role in the take-off to modern growth; we find that this timing of improvements in longevity concerns most countries in Europe and most skilled occupations. Springer Verlag 2015-09-01 Article PeerReviewed De la Croix, David and Licandro, Omar (2015) The longevity of famous people from Hammurabi to Einstein. Journal of Economic Growth, 20 (3). pp. 263-303. ISSN 1381-4338 Longevity Notoriety Malthus Elite Compensation Effect of Mortality Enlightenment Europe. http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10887-015-9117-0 doi:10.1007/s10887-015-9117-0 doi:10.1007/s10887-015-9117-0 |
| spellingShingle | Longevity Notoriety Malthus Elite Compensation Effect of Mortality Enlightenment Europe. De la Croix, David Licandro, Omar The longevity of famous people from Hammurabi to Einstein |
| title | The longevity of famous people from Hammurabi to Einstein |
| title_full | The longevity of famous people from Hammurabi to Einstein |
| title_fullStr | The longevity of famous people from Hammurabi to Einstein |
| title_full_unstemmed | The longevity of famous people from Hammurabi to Einstein |
| title_short | The longevity of famous people from Hammurabi to Einstein |
| title_sort | longevity of famous people from hammurabi to einstein |
| topic | Longevity Notoriety Malthus Elite Compensation Effect of Mortality Enlightenment Europe. |
| url | https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34416/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34416/ https://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/34416/ |