60:20512 Benedictow,
Ole J. The medieval demographic system of the Nordic
countries. ISBN 82-91114-01-3. 1993. 229 pp. Middelalderforlaget:
Oslo, Norway. In Eng.
This is a general study of the demographics
of the Nordic countries in medieval times. Data are primarily from 15
osteo-archeological studies of medieval cemeteries carried out in
recent decades. "The author concludes that the demographic system of
the Nordic countries must have been qualitatively different from the
early modern demographic regime. It is, among other things,
distinguished by considerably higher mortality, lower life expectancy,
higher nuptiality, lower age at marriage, especially for females, and
higher fertility. This shows that the transformation from medieval
society to (early) modern Europe comprised profound changes not only in
economic, social and political structures, but also in the basic
demographic pattern."
Correspondence: Middelalderforlaget,
P.O. Box 80, Blindern, 0314 Oslo, Norway. Location: Princeton
University Library (SPR).
60:20513 Societa
Italiana di Demografia Storica [SIDES] (Bologna, Italy).
The population of the Italian countryside in the modern era.
[La popolazione delle campagne italiane in eta moderna.] 1993. xiv, 675
pp. Cooperativa Libraria Universitaria Editrice [CLUEB]: Bologna,
Italy. In Ita.
These are the proceedings of a conference held in
Turin, Italy, on December 3-5, 1987. The volume is divided into three
sections. The first looks at the structure and dynamics of specific
rural populations in relation to available land resources and
infrastructures in various regions of Italy from the sixteenth to the
nineteenth century. The second looks at how populations evolved
differently in response to factors affecting social structure. The
third section presents some international comparisons with other
European countries.
Correspondence: Cooperativa Libraria
Universitaria Editrice, Via Marsala 24, 40126 Bologna, Italy.
Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
60:20514 Breschi,
Marco; De Santis, Gustavo. Toward a new use of the State
of Souls: the own-children method and its application to historical
demography. [Verso una nuova utilizzazione degli Stati delle
Anime: il metodo dei figli propri e una sua applicazione in demografia
storica.] Bollettino di Demografia Storica, No. 17, 1992. 7-46 pp.
Florence, Italy. In Ita.
The authors describe the application of
the own-children method of fertility analysis to nineteenth-century
data from the ecclesiastical records known as the State of Souls. An
example is given using data from 1841 concerning Treppio, in Tuscany,
Italy.
Correspondence: M. Breschi, Via B. Sestini 26, 51100
Pistoia, Italy. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
60:20515 Buccianti,
Cinzia. Fertility in Tuscany in the mid-nineteenth
century: an application of the own-children method. [Levelli di
fecondita nella Toscana a meta '800: un' applicazione del metodo "own
children"] Bollettino di Demografia Storica, No. 17, 1992. 71-82 pp.
Florence, Italy. In Ita.
The own-children method of fertility
analysis is described and illustrated using nineteenth-century data for
selected areas in Tuscany, Italy.
Location: Princeton
University Library (SPR).
60:20516 Reher,
David S.; Schofield, Roger. Old and new methods in
historical demography. ISBN 0-19-828793-3. LC 93-6635. 1993. vii,
426 pp. Clarendon Press: Oxford, England. In Eng.
This publication
presents a selection of papers explaining a variety of techniques used
in the analysis of historical demographic data. "The papers in this
volume are divided into groups. The first group tackles the issues and
challenges of time series analysis and other approaches to population
reconstruction. The second group deals with different methods of
family reconstitution and the problems of following life histories,
while the third group of papers tackles the analytical technique of
event history analysis, using data ranging from nineteenth-century
French migration history to economic and temperature fluctuations in
Sweden. The fourth group of papers addresses the basic parameters of
different historical processes, while other papers advance new ideas on
sources of data, from the computerized U.S. census returns to the Qing
Imperial Lineage in China."
Correspondence: Oxford
University Press, Walton Street, Oxford 0X2 6DP, England.
Location: New York Public Library, New York, NY.
60:20517 Rossi,
Fiorenzo. The use of the own-children method in historical
demography. [L'uso del metodo dei figli propri in demografia
storica.] Bollettino di Demografia Storica, No. 17, 1992. 47-69 pp.
Florence, Italy. In Ita.
The applicability of the own-children
method of fertility analysis using historical data is examined. The
focus is on data from the State of Souls, ecclesiastical records
available in certain Catholic countries. An example is given using
data from the Italian parish of Crespino in the province of Rovigo for
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Correspondence: F.
Rossi, Universita de Padova, Dipartimento di Scienze Statistiche, Via
San Francesco 33, 35121 Padua, Italy. Location: Princeton
University Library (SPR).
60:20518 Ruggles,
Steven. Confessions of a microsimulator: problems in
modeling the demography of kinship. Historical Methods, Vol. 26,
No. 4, Fall 1993. 161-9 pp. Washington, D.C. In Eng.
The author
discusses problems involved in modeling the effects of demographic
factors on historical kinship patterns, with a focus on microsimulation
models. "Since microsimulations of kinship ignore the correlations in
demographic behavior within kin groups, they ordinarily understate the
variance of kinship distributions; for many kin types, they also
underestimate the expected number of kin." The author concludes that
"those who design demographic models of kinship should be sensitive to
the potential for systematic error."
Correspondence: S.
Ruggles, University of Minnesota, Department of History, Minneapolis,
MN 55455. Location: Princeton University Library (SPR).
