Arthur L Bowley: A Pioneer In Modern Statistics And Economics

by Samuel Kotz, Andrew I Dale

Overview

Arthur Lyon Bowley, the founding father of modern statistics, was an important and colorful figure and a leader in cementing the foundations of statistical methodology, including survey methodology, and of the applications of statistics to economical and social issues during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. In many respects, he was ahead of his time.The giants in this field around that time were largely concentrated in the British Isles and Scandinavian countries; among these contributors, Arthur Bowley was one of the most active in revolutionizing statistical methodology and its economic applications. However, Bowley has been vastly undervalued by subsequent commentators — while hundreds of articles and books have been written on Karl Pearson, those on Arthur Bowley amount to a dozen or less. This book seeks to remedy this and fill in an important omission in the monographical literature on the history of statistics. In particular, the recent resurgence of interest in poverty research has led to a renewed interest in Bowley's legacy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9789812835505
Publisher:	World Scientific Publishing Company, Incorporated
Publication date:	04/16/2011
Pages:	544
Product dimensions:	6.10(w) x 9.00(h) x 1.30(d)

Table of Contents

Preface vii

Acknowledgements xi

1 Biography 1

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Education 3

1.3 Early career, family & friends 12

1.4 Later career 17

1.5 Professional activities 24

1.6 Retirement 27

2 Social Statistics 29

2.1 Introduction 29

2.2 Livelihood and Poverty 30

2.3 Measurement of Social Phenomena 35

2.4 Has Poverty Diminished? 46

2.5 New Survey of London Life and Labour 48

2.6 Consequences of the Great War 61

2.7 Aspects of population tendency 70

3 National and Official Statistics 73

3.1 Introduction 73

3.2 Early papers 73

3.3 Statistical Studies relating to National Progress 84

3.4 Official Statistics 96

3.5 National Income 104

4 Wages and Incomes 123

4.1 Introduction 123

4.2 Early Papers 123

4.3 Wages in the United Kingdom 133

4.4 Prices and Wages, 1914-1920 141

4.5 Wages and Income since 1860 149

4.6 RSS presidential address 163

5 Miscellaneous Books 169

5.1 Introduction 169

5.2 England's Foreign Trade 169

5.3 British Trade in Wartime 182

5.4 The Third Winter of Unemployment 184

5.5 Is Unemployment Inevitable? 194

5.6 Economic Census of India 203

6 Statistical Papers 213

6.1 Introduction 213

6.2 Averages 214

6.3 On goodness-of-fit 221

6.4 The double median 225

6.5 Inference from sample to population 230

6.6 Statistics in economics 235

7 Statistical Books 239

7.1 Introduction 239

7.2 Elements of Statistics 239

7.3 Groups and Series 272

7.4 An Elementary Manual of Statistics 283

8 Index Numbers 295

8.1 Introduction 295

8.2 Papers on index numbers 296

8.3 Other indices 317

9 Sampling 323

9.1 Introduction 323

9.2 Representative Sampling 324

9.3 Bowley's memorandum on sampling 326

9.4 The application of sampling 345

10 Economics 351

10.1 Introduction 351

10.2 Economic statistics 351

10.3 Mathematical Groundwork 357

11 Mathematics 385

11.1 Introduction 385

11.2 Kinetic energy 386

11.3 Mathematics in statistics 387

11.4 Pure Mathematics 389

12 Miscellaneous 401

12.1 Introduction 401

12.2 Obituaries and Reviews 401

12.3 Demography 405

12.4 The Economic Service 413

12.5 The Dock Labour Inquiry 414

12.6 International Housing Statistics 415

Notes 417

Bibliography 467

Index 517