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Tabulated nonsense? Testing the validity of the Ethnographic Atlas

Author

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  • Bahrami-Rad, Duman
  • Becker, Anke
  • Henrich, Joseph

Abstract

The Ethnographic Atlas (Murdock, 1967), an anthropological database, is widely used across the social sciences. The Atlas is a quantified and discretely categorized collection of information gleaned from ethnographies covering more than 1200 pre-industrial societies. While being popular in many fields, it has been subject to skepticism within cultural anthropology. We assess the Atlas’s validity by comparing it with representative data from descendants of the portrayed societies. We document positive associations between the historical measures collected by ethnographers and self-reported data from 790,000 individuals across 43 countries.

Suggested Citation

  • Bahrami-Rad, Duman & Becker, Anke & Henrich, Joseph, 2021. "Tabulated nonsense? Testing the validity of the Ethnographic Atlas," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 204(C).
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:ecolet:v:204:y:2021:i:c:s0165176521001579
    DOI: 10.1016/j.econlet.2021.109880
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    Cited by:

    1. Edward Kerby & Alexander Moradi & Hanjo Odendaal, 2022. "African time travellers: what can we learn from 500 years of written accounts?," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _201, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    2. Sara Lowes & Etienne Le Rossignol, 2022. "Ancestral Livelihoods and Moral Universalism: Evidence from Transhumant Pastoralist Societies," Université Paris1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (Post-Print and Working Papers) hal-04083412, HAL.
    3. Cao, Yiming & Enke, Benjamin & Falk, Armin & Giuliano, Paola & Nunn, Nathan, 2021. "Herding, Warfare, and a Culture of Honor: Global Evidence," IZA Discussion Papers 14738, Institute of Labor Economics (IZA).
    4. Dimico, Arcangelo, 2024. "The Effect of Abortion Policies on Fertility and Human Capital in Sub-Saharan Africa," QBS Working Paper Series 2024/06, Queen's University Belfast, Queen's Business School.
    5. Collins, Matthew, 2022. "Sibling Gender, Inheritance Customs and Educational Attainment: Evidence from Matrilineal and Patrilineal Societies," Working Papers 2022:5, Lund University, Department of Economics.
    6. Laura Maravall & Jörg Baten & Johan Fourie, 2023. "Leader selection and why it matters: Education and the endogeneity of favouritism in 11 African countries," Review of Development Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 27(3), pages 1562-1604, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    Ethnographic Atlas; Validation; Culture;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N01 - Economic History - - General - - - Development of the Discipline: Historiographical; Sources and Methods
    • N30 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • Z10 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - General
    • Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Economic Sociology; Economic Anthropology; Language; Social and Economic Stratification

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