Numeracy in Early Modern England. The Prothero Lecture

Thomas, Keith

doi:10.1017/s0080440100018880

Cited by 8 publications

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“…Cited in Thomas, ‘Numeracy’, p. 108. Further evidence of farmers being educated is provided by Lorenzen‐Schmidt, ‘Early literality’, p. 45, who mentions the existence of loans between peasants in northern Germany from the sixteenth century onwards.…”

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confidence: 99%

Farmers at the heart of the ‘human capital revolution’? Decomposing the numeracy increase in early modern Europe†

Tollnek

Baten

2017

The Economic History Review

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Did the early development of skills and numerical abilities occur primarily in urban centres and among the elite groups of society? This study assesses the human capital of different occupational groups in the early modern period and partially confirms this finding: skilled and professional groups had higher levels of numeracy and literacy than persons in unskilled occupations. However, there was another large group that developed substantial human capital and represented around one‐third of the total population: farmers. By analysing numeracy and literacy evidence from six countries in Europe and Latin America, we argue that farmers contributed significantly to the formation of human capital and, consequently, to modern economic growth.

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confidence: 99%

Farmers at the heart of the ‘human capital revolution’? Decomposing the numeracy increase in early modern Europe†

Tollnek

Baten

2017

The Economic History Review

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“…For example, de Moor and van Zanden, ‘Uit fouten kun je leren’, pp. 63–5, and Thomas, ‘Numeracy’, pp. 125–7, show that heaping on other numbers also happened, such as multiples of 12 and even numbers.…”

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How did women count? A note on gender‐specific age heaping differences in the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries¹

Földvári

Leeuwen

Leeuwen-Li

2011

The Economic History Review

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The role of human capital in economic growth is now largely uncontested. One indicator of human capital frequently used for the pre-1900 period is age heaping, which has been increasingly used to measure gender-specific differences. In this note, we find that in some historical samples, married women heap significantly less than unmarried women. This is still true after correcting for possible selection effects. A possible explanation is that a percentage of women adapted their ages to that of their husbands, hence biasing the Whipple index. We find the same effect to a lesser extent for men. Since this bias differs over time and across countries, a consistent comparison of female age heaping should be made by focusing on unmarried women.

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“…Numeracy is thought to have been low in seventeenth-century England, especially among those who did not work in financial or technical trades. 36 But for the sector of society that dealt regularly with numbers there were established ways of doing arithmetic and geometry. There were also associated sets of calculating aids such as logarithmic scales, drawing tools, counting boards, Napier's bones and the abacus.…”

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confidence: 99%

Samuel Morland and his calculating machines c.1666: the early career of a courtier–inventor in Restoration London

Ratcliff

2007

Br J Hist Sci

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This paper presents the story of two calculating machines invented by Sir Samuel Morland (1625-95) in the 1660s. These instruments are the earliest known mechanical calculators made in England. Their designs are unusual and very much of their time. They appealed to some, especially at court, and were dismissed by others, such as Robert Hooke. The first part of the paper introduces Morland and the courtier-inventor's world, in which a reputation as a 'machinist ' or an engineer could accompany high social status. It considers why a former diplomat and postal spy would turn to invention in general and to mechanical calculators in particular as a career move in the Restoration court. The second part addresses the instruments -attention to their design reveals Morland's inspiration. The paper concludes with an examination of the market for the calculators in London, Paris and Florence. While it is notable that the calculators circulated both in court and in the commercial sphere, even more interesting is the contrast between their receptions in these two spheres. The story of these machines and their maker helps flesh out the poorly understood world of the courtier-inventor in early modern England.

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Numeracy in Early Modern England. The Prothero Lecture

Cited by 8 publications

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Farmers at the heart of the ‘human capital revolution’? Decomposing the numeracy increase in early modern Europe†

Farmers at the heart of the ‘human capital revolution’? Decomposing the numeracy increase in early modern Europe†

How did women count? A note on gender‐specific age heaping differences in the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries¹

Samuel Morland and his calculating machines c.1666: the early career of a courtier–inventor in Restoration London

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Numeracy in Early Modern England. The Prothero Lecture

Cited by 8 publications

References 0 publications

Farmers at the heart of the ‘human capital revolution’? Decomposing the numeracy increase in early modern Europe†

Farmers at the heart of the ‘human capital revolution’? Decomposing the numeracy increase in early modern Europe†

How did women count? A note on gender‐specific age heaping differences in the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries1

Samuel Morland and his calculating machines c.1666: the early career of a courtier–inventor in Restoration London

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How did women count? A note on gender‐specific age heaping differences in the sixteenth to nineteenth centuries¹