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Discussion Paper Details

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Title: Cognition, Culture, and State Capacity: Age-Heaping in XIX Century Italy

Author(s): Brian A'Hearn, Alexia Delfino and Alessandro Nuvolari

Publication Date: December 2019

Keyword(s): Age-Heaping, Human Capital, Italy and Numeracy

Programme Area(s): Economic History

Abstract: We re-examine the causes and interpretation of age-heaping in a case study of nineteenth century Italy. Italian census data allow us to calculate age-heaping measures by province, education, gender, and marital status. Our results validate the use of age-heaping as a proxy for human capital, but also reveal anomalies difficult to reconcile with a pure numeracy interpretation. Alongside individual cognitive ability, the census data clearly suggest a role for contextual factors in shaping age-heaping patterns. Direct evidence from Italian social and political history buttresses the case for culture and state capacity as determinants of age-heaping. Age-heaping and illiteracy are well correlated because both are reflections of an underlying process of modernisation, a process which, in nineteenth century Italy, was slow and incomplete.

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Bibliographic Reference

A'Hearn, B, Delfino, A and Nuvolari, A. 2019. 'Cognition, Culture, and State Capacity: Age-Heaping in XIX Century Italy'. London, Centre for Economic Policy Research. https://cepr.org/active/publications/discussion_papers/dp.php?dpno=14261