New Estimates of Over 500 Years of Historic GDP and Population Data

Gross Domestic Product (GDP), GDP per capita, and population are central to the study of politics and economics broadly, and conflict processes in particular. Despite the prominence of these variables in empirical research, existing data lack historical coverage and are assumed to be measured without error. We develop a latent variable modeling framework that expands data coverage (1500 A.D--2018 A.D) and, by making use of multiple indicators for each variable, provides a principled framework to estimate uncertainty for values for all country-year variables relative to one another. Expanded temporal coverage of estimates provides new insights about the relationship between development and democracy, conflict, repression, and health. We also demonstrate how to incorporate uncertainty in observational models. Results show that the relationship between repression and development is weaker than models that do not incorporate uncertainty suggest. Future extensions of the latent variable model can address other forms of systematic measurement error with new data, new measurement theory, or both.

Social Distancing, Temperature, BCG and the Evolution of COVID-19: A Panel-Model Analysis

Background: This work presents results concerning the impact of some variables mentioned in the literature on the daily variation rate of cases (per million inhabitants) of COVID-19, based on a large sample of countries and an empirical model with appropriate control factors. We also propose indicators for measuring social distancing and BCG (Bacilo Calmette-Guérin) vaccine immunization.Methods: A statistical panel-model was applied to daily data for 165 countries from January 22 to July 31, 2020. Besides, two indicators are constructed for each country in the sample. The first of them measures social distancing, based on percentage of people circulating on transport stations, as a proportion of the circulation in a period before pandemic. The second indicator proposed estimates the current percentage of people immunized by BCG vaccine, based on the historical coverage and demographic factors. Results: We estimate that a strict social distancing may be associated with a reduction of around 6 percentage points in the daily variation rate of cases per million of COVID-19. Besides, the effects of temperature and BCG immunization proved to be statistically significant at the usual levels, indicating that lower temperatures and a low (or a lack of) BCG immunization may be related to increases in the daily variation rate of cases (per million inhabitants) of COVID-19.Conclusions: The analysis made clear the role of social distancing to control the pandemic. In addition, the method used did not allow to exclude the hypothesis that the evolution of COVID-19 may be positively associated with lower temperatures and a low (or a lack of) BCG immunization. JEL classification codes: C13; C33; I18

The Oxford Handbook of Christian Monasticism

The Handbook takes as its subject the complex phenomenon of Christian monasticism. It addresses, for the first time in one volume, the multiple strands of Christian monastic practice. Forty-four essays consider historical and thematic aspects of the Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Protestant, and Anglican traditions, as well as contemporary ‘new monasticism’. The chapters in the book span a period of nearly two thousand years—from late ancient times, through the medieval and early modern eras, on to the present day. Taken together, they offer, not a narrative survey, but rather a map of the vast terrain. The intention of the Handbook is to provide a balance of some essential historical coverage with a representative sample of current thinking on monasticism. It presents the work of both academic and monastic authors, and the chapters are best understood as a series of loosely linked episodes, forming a long chain of enquiry, and allowing for various points of view. The authors are a diverse and international group, who bring a wide range of critical perspectives to bear on pertinent themes and issues. They indicate developing trends in their areas of specialization. The individual contributions, and the volume as a whole, set out an agenda for the future direction of monastic studies. In today’s world, where there is increasing interest in all world monasticisms, where scholars are adopting more capacious, global approaches to their investigations, and where monks and nuns are casting a fresh eye on their ancient traditions, this publication is especially timely.

Luxembourg Fund Data Repository

In this paper, we introduce the Luxembourg Fund Data Repository, a novel database of investment funds available for academic research that was created at the Department of Finance of the University of Luxembourg. The database contains the population of Undertakings for Collective Investment in Transferable Securities funds domiciled in Luxembourg from the starting month of their existence (March 1988) to October 2016. The fund characteristics are organized in a comprehensive database architecture encompassing static and dynamic data over the entire life of the funds. The characteristics include fund identifiers, official name, status information, management company and other service providers, daily and monthly performance time-series, portfolio holdings, classification of investment objective, fees, dividends, and cash flows. The database was constructed after collecting and assembling complementary historical information from three data providers. Importantly, funds no longer in existence due to liquidation or mergers are included in the database, preventing survivorship bias. The database has been constructed to serve as a research dataset of high accuracy due to the maximization of population coverage, the maximization of historical coverage, and validation by using information acquired from the supervisory authority of the financial sector of Luxembourg. License currently available to researchers of the Department of Finance of the University of Luxembourg. Future plans for extending accessibility to the global academic community.

Automation in Sports Reporting: Strategies of Data Providers, Software Providers, and Media Outlets

This study examines how algorithmic processing affects structures and practices in sports journalism in Germany. A multi-level perspective is used to determine which strategies data providers, software providers, and media outlets use to develop automated reporting, which compiles perspectives across the entire line of news production. The results of 11 in-depth interviews show that non-journalistic actors are vital partners in the news production process, as all actors work together in data handling, training, and software development. Moreover, automation can generate additional content such as match and historical coverage to help address shortfalls in capacity. However, given the business case for automation, amateur football (soccer) is currently the only viable candidate for its use. Many actors involved in the process argue that automated content is an added value for their readers, but claim that content quality has to be put before quantity. This means that some media outlets edit automated articles to increase the quality of their sports journalism, but that this is done only on a small scale. Media outlets do not perceive their roles to be changing, but see automation as a helpful tool that complements their work; a few use automatically created articles as a baseline for in-depth reporting. Moreover, the so-called ‘meta-writer’ has not become a reality yet, as data-processing and news writing are still kept separate. This article sheds new light on the use of automation in the sports beat, highlighting the growing role of non-journalistic actors in the news production process.

Historical Bibliometrics Using Google Scholar: The Case of Roman Law, 1727–2016

PurposeThe purpose of this study is to investigate the historical and linguistic coverage of Google Scholar, using publications in the field of Roman law as an example.Design/methodology/approachTo create a dataset of Roman law publications, we retrieved a total of 21,300 records of publications, published between years 1500 and 2016, with title including words denoting “Roman law” in English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish.FindingsWe were able to find publications dating back to 1727. The largest number of publications and authors date to the late 19th century, and this peak might be explained by the role of Roman law in French legal education at the time. Furthermore, we found exceptionally skewed concentration of publications to authors, as well as of citations to publications. We speculate that this could be explained by the long time-frame of the study, and the importance of classic works.Research limitationMajor limitations, and potential future work, relate to data quality, and cleaning, disambiguation of publications and authors, as well as comparing coverage with other data sources.Practical implicationsWe find Google Scholar to be a promising data source for historical bibliometrics. This approach may help bridge the gap between bibliometrics and the “digital humanities”.Originality/valueEarlier studies have focused mainly on Google Scholar's coverage of publications and citations in general, or in specific fields. The historical coverage has, however, received less attention.

HISTORICAL COVERAGE OF THE ACTIVITIES OF AFGHAN CITIZENS LIVING IN CENTRAL ASIA IN THE 19TH AND 20TH CENTURIES

This article illustrates the history of the arrival of Afghan citizens in Central Asia and their activities here. It is possible to know fom the source used in this research paper that the localized Afghan people played an important role in the socio-economic,cultural and political life of the region's population. The views of Afghan citizens who came to our country on the people, culture and political processes serve as an important source for studying the political life of the 19th and 20th centuries

A new league, new coverage? Comparing tweets and media coverage from the first season of AFLW

Recent research has indicated that coverage of women’s sport has become less trivialised and sexualised, compared to historical coverage. This article uses the inaugural season of the AFL Women’s (AFLW) League in 2017 to explore this concept in both media and Twitter framing. It found that most media coverage and tweets were likely to discuss the AFLW as sport, focusing on match previews and reviews. However, there was evidence that women may still be treated differently to men, as the AFLW players who received the most media coverage also had significant off-field stories that were always mentioned alongside their on-field performance. Analysis of the tweets found that more were focused on the cultural change impact of AFLW. This was further exaggerated when looking at the most shared tweets, which were overwhelmingly focused on the socio-cultural impact of AFLW. This study indicates then that women’s sport is continuing to be normalised as part of regular sports reporting, but also that social media did not necessarily share the same frames as media when discussing AFLW. In an increasingly fragmented media environment, this has implications for media’s agenda-building function.

“Never Again”: Fascism and Anti-Fascism in Melbourne in the 1990s

An upsurge of fascist and anti-fascist activity in Australia in the early part of the twentieth century has received sustained historical attention. Yet scholarly historical coverage of the latter part of the century has been minimal. This article demonstrates the ongoing existence of both a far-right movement and a concomitant anti-fascist opposition by focusing on Melbourne in the 1990s. It draws from interviews with anti-fascist activists and from campaign paraphernalia and press reports. It introduces the group National Action (NA), identifies its political tactics and shows how it rebranded fascist traditions from Europe and the USA by drawing on iconic figures and symbols of the Australian labour movement, anti-immigrant racist tropes and on white Australian nationalism. Anti-fascist groups were loose collections of left activists and organisations animated by memories of the racist horrors of World War II. This article shows that, over time, loosely affiliated ant-fascist groups were influenced by various overseas currents of thought about political practice. These included notions of a United or Popular Front, direct and indirect action, “no platforming” and “squaddism” respectively. The analysis draws on contemporary trends in international anti-fascism studies.