Volume 13 - Article 9 | Pages 201–222  

Tempo and its Tribulations

By Kenneth W. Wachter

Abstract

Bongaarts and Feeney offer alternatives to period life expectancy with a set of demographic measures equivalent to each other under a Proportionality Assumption. Under this assumption, we show that the measures are given by exponentially weighted moving averages of earlier values of period life expectancy. They are indices of mortality conditions in the recent past. The period life expectancy is an index of current mortality conditions. The difference is a difference between past and present, not a ``tempo distortion'' in the present. In contrast, the Bongaarts-Feeney tempo-adjusted Total Fertility Rate is a measure of current fertility conditions, which can be understood in terms of a process of birth-age standardization.

Author's Affiliation

• Kenneth W. Wachter - University of California, Berkeley, United States of America EMAIL

Other articles by the same author/authors in Demographic Research

Biodemography comes of Age
Volume 19 - Article 40

The past, present, and future of demography and the role of the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research
Volume 9 - Article 4

Measuring Local Heterogeneity with 1990 U.S. Census Data
Volume 3 - Article 10

Most recent similar articles in Demographic Research

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on mortality in Uruguay from 2020 to 2022
Volume 51 - Article 29    | Keywords: COVID-19, excess mortality, life expectancy, Uruguay

On the relationship between life expectancy, modal age at death, and the threshold age of the life table entropy
Volume 51 - Article 24    | Keywords: Gompertz law, life expectancy, lifespan variation, longevity, mode, mortality

Standardized mean age at death (MADstd): Exploring its potentials as a measure of human longevity
Volume 50 - Article 30    | Keywords: formal demography, life expectancy, mean age at death, mortality, standardization

How lifespan and life years lost equate to unity
Volume 50 - Article 24    | Keywords: life expectancy, life table entropy, life years lost, lifespan variation

Subnational contribution to life expectancy and life span variation changes: Evidence from the United States
Volume 50 - Article 22    | Keywords: decomposition methods, life expectancy, lifespan variation, subnational mortality