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Age heaping and numeracy: Looking behind the curtain

Author

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  • Blum, Matthias
  • Krauss, Karl-Peter
Abstract
Age heaping-based numeracy indicators have served as valuable tools to derive basic human capital estimates, especially for periods where other indicators are unavailable. However, the accuracy of individual age statements usually remains unknown, and due to the lack of precise information it can only assumed that excessive occurrence of multiples of five in age distributions reflects inferior numerical skills. We address this lacuna by identifying 162 individuals in two independent data sources, self-reported age statements and independently kept records which are based on family heritage books and church registers. This method allows us to identify individual misreporting and the degree of accuracy of each individual. We find that not everyone who reports a multiple of five reports an incorrect age, nor everyone who reports an age that is not a multiple of five reports an accurate age. In an empirical analysis we show that the commonly used binary numeracy indicator is correlated with the observed degree of accuracy in age statements, and that a more sophisticated occupational background reduces this inaccuracy. Our tentative results suggest that the commonly used binary indicator measuring age heaping is a valuable proxy of the numerical skills and occupational background in a population.

Suggested Citation

  • Blum, Matthias & Krauss, Karl-Peter, 2017. "Age heaping and numeracy: Looking behind the curtain," QUCEH Working Paper Series 2017-05, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's University Centre for Economic History.
    • Handle: RePEc:zbw:qucehw:201705
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Matthias Blum & Christopher L. Colvin & Laura McAtackney & Eoin McLaughlin, 2017. "Women of an uncertain age: quantifying human capital accumulation in rural Ireland in the nineteenth century," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 70(1), pages 187-223, February.
    2. Juif, Dácil-Tania & Baten, Joerg, 2013. "On the human capital of Inca Indios before and after the Spanish Conquest. Was there a “Pre-Colonial Legacy”?," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 50(2), pages 227-241.
    3. Jorg Baten & Dorothee Crayen & Hans-Joachim Voth, 2014. "Numeracy and the Impact of High Food Prices in Industrializing Britain, 1780–1850," The Review of Economics and Statistics, MIT Press, vol. 96(3), pages 418-430, July.
    4. Jörg Baten & Johan Fourie, 2015. "Numeracy of Africans, Asians, and Europeans during the early modern period: new evidence from Cape Colony court registers," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 68(2), pages 632-656, May.
    5. Ralph Hippe & Joerg Baten, 2011. "Regional Inequality in Human Capital Formation in Europe, 1790 - 1880," Working Papers 11-07, Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC).
    6. Baten, Joerg & Juif, Dácil, 2014. "A story of large landowners and math skills: Inequality and human capital formation in long-run development, 1820–2000," Journal of Comparative Economics, Elsevier, vol. 42(2), pages 375-401.
    7. Tine De Moor & Jaco Zuijderduijn, 2013. "The Art of Counting: Reconstructing Numeracy of the Middle and Upper Classes on the Basis of Portraits in the Early Modern Low Countries," Historical Methods: A Journal of Quantitative and Interdisciplinary History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(1), pages 41-56, March.
    8. Baten Joerg & Szołtysek Mikołaj & Campestrini Monica, 2017. "“Girl Power” in Eastern Europe? The human capital development of Central-Eastern and Eastern Europe in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries and its determinants," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 21(1), pages 29-63.
    9. Joerg Baten & Stefan Priwitzer, 2015. "Social and intertemporal differences of basic numeracy in Pannonia (first century BCE to third century CE)," Scandinavian Economic History Review, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 63(2), pages 110-134, June.
    10. A'Hearn, Brian & Baten, Jörg & Crayen, Dorothee, 2009. "Quantifying Quantitative Literacy: Age Heaping and the History of Human Capital," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 69(3), pages 783-808, September.
    11. Crayen, Dorothee & Baten, Joerg, 2010. "Global trends in numeracy 1820-1949 and its implications for long-term growth," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 47(1), pages 82-99, January.
    12. Stolz, Yvonne & Baten, Joerg, 2012. "Brain drain in the age of mass migration: Does relative inequality explain migrant selectivity?," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 49(2), pages 205-220.
    13. Robert Myers, 1976. "An instance of reverse heaping of ages," Demography, Springer;Population Association of America (PAA), vol. 13(4), pages 577-580, November.
    14. Yvonne Stolz & Joerg Baten & Jaime Reis, 2013. "Portuguese living standards, 1720–1980, in European comparison: heights, income, and human capital," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 66(2), pages 545-578, May.
    15. Yvonne Stolz & Joerg Baten & Tarcísio Botelho, 2013. "Growth effects of nineteenth-century mass migrations: 'Fome Zero' for Brazil?," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 17(1), pages 95-121, February.
    16. Peter Földvári & Bas Van Leeuwen & Jieli Van Leeuwen‐Li, 2012. "How did women count? A note on gender‐specific age heaping differences in the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 65(1), pages 304-313, February.
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    Blog mentions

    As found by EconAcademics.org, the blog aggregator for Economics research:
    1. Dos historias y un destino: alfabetización y habilidades numéricas en España
      by Francisco Beltrán Tapia in Nada Es Gratis on 2017-11-02 11:00:07

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    Cited by:

    1. Èric Gómez-i-Aznar, 2020. "Ad maiorem Dei gloriam. Numeracy levels in the Guarani Jesuit missions," Working Papers 0181, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    2. Beltrán Tapia, Francisco J. & Díez-Minguela, Alfonso & Martinez-Galarraga, Julio & Tirado-Fabregat, Daniel A., 2022. "Two Stories, One Fate: Age-Heaping And Literacy In Spain, 1877-1930," Revista de Historia Económica / Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(3), pages 405-438, December.
    3. Èric Gómez-i-Aznar, 2019. "Human capital at the beginnings of the 18th century Catalonia: age-heaping and numeracy in a changing economy," Documentos de Trabajo (DT-AEHE) 1904, Asociación Española de Historia Económica.
    4. Brian A'Hearn & Alexia Delfino & Alessandro Nuvolari, 2022. "Rethinking age heaping: a cautionary tale from nineteenth‐century Italy," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(1), pages 111-137, February.
    5. Èric Gómez‐i‐Aznar, 2023. "Ad maiorem Dei gloriam: Numeracy levels in the Guarani Jesuit missions," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 76(1), pages 87-117, February.
    6. Joana María Pujadas-Mora & María Carmen Pérez-Artés, 2024. "Numeracy and consistency in age declarations: a case study on nineteenth and twentieth century Catalonia," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 18(3), pages 869-904, September.
    7. Matthias Blum & Karl‐Peter Krauss & Dmytro Myeshkov, 2022. "Human capital transfer of German‐speaking migrants in eastern Europe, 1780s–1820s," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 75(3), pages 703-738, August.

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    More about this item

    Keywords

    numeracy; ABCC; age heaping; human capital; inequality; economic history; skills; methodology; migration;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N01 - Economic History - - General - - - Development of the Discipline: Historiographical; Sources and Methods
    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • C43 - Mathematical and Quantitative Methods - - Econometric and Statistical Methods: Special Topics - - - Index Numbers and Aggregation
    • O15 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Economic Development: Human Resources; Human Development; Income Distribution; Migration

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