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

Alessandro Nuvolari, Brian A'Hearn and Alexia Delfino

No 14261, CEPR Discussion Papers from C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers

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.

Keywords: Age-heaping; Numeracy; Human capital; Italy (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J24 N33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2019-12
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (3)

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