The longevity of famous people from Hammurabi to Einstein

De la Croix, David; Licandro, Omar

Abstract

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.

Citation

De la Croix, D., & Licandro, O. (2015). The longevity of famous people from Hammurabi to Einstein. Journal of Economic Growth, 20(3), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10887-015-9117-0

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: May 7, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Jun 19, 2015
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2015
• Deposit Date: Jun 27, 2016
• Publicly Available Date: Jun 27, 2016
• Journal: Journal of Economic Growth
• Print ISSN: 1381-4338
• Electronic ISSN: 1573-7020
• Publisher: Springer Verlag
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 20
• Issue: 3
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10887-015-9117-0
• Keywords: Longevity, Notoriety, Malthus, Elite, Compensation Effect of Mortality, Enlightenment, Europe.
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/757906
• Publisher URL: http://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10887-015-9117-0
• Additional Information: The final publication is available at Springer via http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10887-015-9117-0
• Contract Date: Jun 27, 2016