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

Thomas Brambor; Agustín Goenaga; Johannes Lindvall; Jan Teorell

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

Thomas Brambor, Agustín Goenaga, Johannes Lindvall, Jan Teorell

Department of Political Science

Research output: Working paper/Preprint › Working paper

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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.

Original language	English
Place of Publication	Lund
Publisher	Department of Political Science, Lund University
Number of pages	30
Publication status	Published - 2016 May

Publication series

Name	STANCE Working Paper Series
No.	2
Volume	2016

Subject classification (UKÄ)

Political Science (excluding Peace and Conflict Studies)

Free keywords

state
Information capacity
census
census data
statistical analysis
territory
Population
government agency
statistical yearbook
19th and 20th century

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2016-2, Brambor, Goenaga, Lindvall & TeorellOther version, 5.54 MB

1 Article

The Lay of the Land: Information Capacity and the Modern State
Brambor, T., Goenaga, A., Lindvall, J. & Teorell, J., 2020 Feb 1, In: Comparative Political Studies. 53, 2, p. 175-213 39 p.
Research output: Contribution to journal › Article › peer-review

1 Finished

STANCE: State-Making and the Origins of Global Order in the Long Nineteenth Century and Beyond
Teorell, J. (PI), Bartelson, J. (PI), Björkdahl, A. (Researcher), Bäck, H. (Researcher), Goenaga, A. (Researcher), Hall, M. (Researcher), Kalm, S. (Researcher), Lindvall, J. (Researcher), Ravndal, E. (Researcher), Svensson, T. (Researcher), von Hagen-Jamar, A. (Researcher), Eitrem Holmgren, L. (Project coordinator), Hjärtström, L. (Administrator), Olin, M. (Administrator) & Hansen, M. (Administrator)
The Bank of Sweden Tercentenary Foundation: Swedish Foundation for Humanities and Social Science Research
2015/01/01 → 2020/12/31
Project: Research

Cite this

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KW - census

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KW - statistical analysis

KW - territory

KW - Population

KW - government agency

KW - statistical yearbook

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ER -

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

Abstract

Publication series

Subject classification (UKÄ)

Free keywords

Access to Document

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Research output

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

Projects

STANCE: State-Making and the Origins of Global Order in the Long Nineteenth Century and Beyond

Cite this