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The Lay of the Land: Information Capacity and the Modern State

Brambor, Thomas LU ; Goenaga, Agustín LU ; Lindvall, Johannes LU orcid and Teorell, Jan LU orcid (2016) In STANCE Working Paper Series 2016(2).
Abstract
Relying on three new indicators of the information capacity of states, this paper provides new evidence on the ability of states to collect and process information about the territories and populations that they govern. The three indicators are (a) the availability of a reliable census, (b) the establishment of a permanent government agency tasked with processing statistical information about the territory and the population, and (c) the regular release of statistical yearbooks. We find, as expected, that there has been a secular increase in information capacity over time. We also investigate salient differences among countries from the early 1800s onward.
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author
; ; and
organization
publishing date
type
Working paper/Preprint
publication status
published
subject
keywords
state, Information capacity, census, census data, statistical analysis, territory, Population, government agency, statistical yearbook, 19th and 20th century
in
STANCE Working Paper Series
volume
2016
issue
2
pages
30 pages
publisher
Department of Political Science, Lund University
project
State-Making and the Origins of Global Order in the Long Nineteenth Century and Beyond
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
33e21d28-b2f3-4f59-b4ad-da8ad8a5e7c4
date added to LUP
2016-06-07 15:21:56
date last changed
2019-03-29 09:29:02
@misc{33e21d28-b2f3-4f59-b4ad-da8ad8a5e7c4,
  abstract     = {{Relying on three new indicators of the information capacity of states, this paper provides new evidence on the ability of states to collect and process information about the territories and populations that they govern. The three indicators are (a) the availability of a reliable census, (b) the establishment of a permanent government agency tasked with processing statistical information about the territory and the population, and (c) the regular release of statistical yearbooks. We find, as expected, that there has been a secular increase in information capacity over time. We also investigate salient differences among countries from the early 1800s onward.}},
  author       = {{Brambor, Thomas and Goenaga, Agustín and Lindvall, Johannes and Teorell, Jan}},
  keywords     = {{state; Information capacity; census; census data; statistical analysis; territory; Population; government agency; statistical yearbook; 19th and 20th century}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Working Paper}},
  number       = {{2}},
  publisher    = {{Department of Political Science, Lund University}},
  series       = {{STANCE Working Paper Series}},
  title        = {{The Lay of the Land: Information Capacity and the Modern State}},
  url          = {{https://lup.lub.lu.se/search/files/10948437/2016_2_Brambor_Goenaga_Lindvall_Teorell.pdf}},
  volume       = {{2016}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}