Ever Since Gompertz Export

@article{olshansky_and_carnes_1997, abstract = {In 1825 British actuary Benjamin Gompertz made a simple but important observation that a law of geometrical progression pervades large portions of different tables of mortality for humans. The simple formula he derived describing the exponential rise in death rates between sexual maturity and old age is commonly referred to as the Gompertz equation--a formula that remains a valuable tool in demography and in other scientific disciplines. Gompertz's observation of a mathematical regularity in the life table led him to believe in the presence of a law of mortality that explained why common age patterns of death exist. This law of mortality has captured the attention of scientists for the past 170 years because it was the first among what are now several reliable empirical tools for describing the dying-out process of many living organisms during a significant portion of their life spans. In this paper we review the literature on Gompertz's law of mortality and discuss the importance of his observations and insights in light of research on aging that has taken place since then.}, author = {Olshansky, Jay S. and Carnes, Bruce A.}, citeulike-article-id = {3404460}, citeulike-linkout-0 = {http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2061656}, citeulike-linkout-1 = {http://www.jstor.org/stable/2061656}, comment = {Review of the body of research into mortality patterns that has arisen since Gompertz first posited the ``law of mortality'' in 1825. Argues that Gompertz's law is still influential in current actuarial science, and has generated interest in what biomedical mechanisms are at work which give rise to an exponential force of mortality for much of adult life. Also describes the body of work that has gone in to describing mortality experiences for age groups where the ``law'' does not hold.}, doi = {10.2307/2061656}, issn = {00703370}, journal = {Demography}, keywords = {actuarial, demography, gompertz, life-expectancy, life-table, methodology, mortality, pattern}, number = {1}, pages = {1--15}, posted-at = {2008-10-14 13:34:47}, priority = {0}, publisher = {Population Association of America}, title = {Ever Since Gompertz}, url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2061656}, volume = {34}, year = {1997} }

TY - JOUR ID - olshansky_and_carnes_1997 L3 - citeulike-article-id:3404460 N2 - In 1825 British actuary Benjamin Gompertz made a simple but important observation that a law of geometrical progression pervades large portions of different tables of mortality for humans. The simple formula he derived describing the exponential rise in death rates between sexual maturity and old age is commonly referred to as the Gompertz equation--a formula that remains a valuable tool in demography and in other scientific disciplines. Gompertz's observation of a mathematical regularity in the life table led him to believe in the presence of a law of mortality that explained why common age patterns of death exist. This law of mortality has captured the attention of scientists for the past 170 years because it was the first among what are now several reliable empirical tools for describing the dying-out process of many living organisms during a significant portion of their life spans. In this paper we review the literature on Gompertz's law of mortality and discuss the importance of his observations and insights in light of research on aging that has taken place since then. IS - 1 JF - Demography SN - 00703370 EP - 15 TI - Ever Since Gompertz PB - Population Association of America VL - 34 SP - 1 KW - actuarial KW - demography KW - gompertz KW - life-expectancy KW - life-table KW - methodology KW - mortality KW - pattern N1 - Review of the body of research into mortality patterns that has arisen since Gompertz first posited the ``law of mortality'' in 1825. Argues that Gompertz's law is still influential in current actuarial science, and has generated interest in what biomedical mechanisms are at work which give rise to an exponential force of mortality for much of adult life. Also describes the body of work that has gone in to describing mortality experiences for age groups where the ``law'' does not hold. AU - Olshansky, Jay AU - Carnes, Bruce PY - 1997/// UR - http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/2061656 ER -