Data source: Borcan, Olsson and Putterman
This dataset measures the presence and duration of experience with macro polities. It extends and replaces previous versions of the State Antiquity Index (originally created by Bockstette, Chanda and Putterman, 2002). The updated data extends the previous Statehist data into the years before 1 CE to the first states in Mesopotamia (in the fourth millennium BCE), along with filling in the years 1951 - 2000 CE that were left out of past versions of the Statehist data.
The construction of the index follows the principles developed by Bockstette et al. (2002). First, the duration of state existence is established for each territory defined by modern-day country borders. Second, this duration is divided into 50-year periods. For each half-century from the first period (state emergence) onwards, the authors assign scores to reflect three dimensions of state presence, based on the following questions: 1) Is there a government above the tribal level? 2) Is this government foreign or locally based? 3) How much of the territory of the modern country was ruled by this government?
When using this dataset, please cite as:
(Borcan et al.,
2018)
Browse variables and select them for download.
sai_statehiste0
State History Index, aggregate index of state history in the year 2000, and discounted values of the overall country indicators with the discounting rates of 0%. The construction of the index follo ...
sai_statehiste01
State History Index, aggregate index of state history in the year 2000, and discounted values of the overall country indicators with the discounting rates of 1%. The construction of the index follo ...
sai_statehiste1
State History Index, aggregate index of state history in the year 2000, and discounted values of the overall country indicators with the discounting rates of 10%. The construction of the index foll ...
sai_statehisten0
Normalized Values State History Index, with discount rates of 0%. The sum of discounted scores was normalized by the score of a hypothetical state with full discounted scores between 3500 BCE and the ...
sai_statehisten01
Normalized Values State History Index, with discount rates of 1%. The sum of discounted scores was normalized by the score of a hypothetical state with full discounted scores between 3500 BCE and the ...
sai_statehisten1
Normalized Values State History Index, with discount rates of 10%. The sum of discounted scores was normalized by the score of a hypothetical state with full discounted scores between 3500 BCE and the ...