Vienna Yearbook of Population Research 2018, pp. 009-014, 2018-11-21
Broadening demographic horizons
The principles underlying a subject provide coherence: how the various aspects and pieces fit together, how their total is greater than the sum of the parts. In science, independent verifiability is a universal principle. And where applicable, informed consent. In sociology, the proposition that people behave differently in groups than they do as individuals underlies much of the field. In economics, the proposition that opportunity costs are the costs that matter in making decisions. In statistics, the principle that it is possible to know about the whole by examining only a small part. In demography, five principles bring coherence to the practice of demographic description and analysis.
Keywords: Science; Scientific principles; Demography; Balancing equation; Cohort progression; Disaggregation