Numeracy in Central New Spain During the Enlightenment

Abstract

This article presents new evidence and analysis on age heaping—a proxy for numeracy and therefore for human capital—in New Spain during the Enlightenment. Human capital plays an important role in economic growth and welfare. It is also one of the dimensions of inequality. Our results are at odds with many of the usual assumptions on which most Mexicanist historiography is based. Age heaping levels of males and females and ethnic groups across locations in Central New Spain are estimated and compared through ad hoc indicators with other countries. We infer that a more empirical emphasis on the institutional legacy of the viceregal period and more attention to human capital since pre-Conquest times will benefit the progress of Hispanic American economic history.

Ad maiorem Dei gloriam: Numeracy levels in the Guarani Jesuit missions

“…shows the exceptionality of the Jesuit missions within the colonial sphere. In any case, the differences between ethnic groups in Central New Spain by the end of the 18th century show the diversity of situations that could be found within the same territory (Calderón et al 2020), as in the case of California.…”

“…30 Especially related to this study is the work on the region of Potosi, which shows the differences in calculation levels between the different native communities in relation to type of institution 31 and that of central New Spain in the eighteenth century, which highlights the complexity of the situation within the same region. 32 There is also more recent work on the differences in numeracy between religious minorities, particularly Jews, in the Iberian Peninsula during the years of the Inquisition. 33 In this context, the main contribution of this article is to provide numeracy results for the Jesuit Guarani missions of the eighteenth century.…”

The Evolution of Income and Inequality among Mexico City’s Construction Workers during the “Independence Era”: 1783-1853

“…This allows us to make a numeracy analysis, to locate masons among other workers. Numeracy (or age-heaping) has been shown to be closely correlated with other human capital indicators, such as literacy and schooling (Mokyr, 1983;A'Hearn, Baten and Crayen, 2009;Calderón-Fernández, Dobado-González and García Hiernaux, 2020). Following, Manzel, Baten and Stoz (2012), we calculate an ABCC rate that indicates the percentage of the population that reported their exact age.…”