Eric Schneider
@ericbschneider.bsky.social
3.3K followers 990 following 64 posts
Professor of Economic History at LSE studying health, demography, living standards and economic growth; working on global historical child stunting. Website: www.ericbschneider.com
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Reposted by Eric Schneider
hggaddy.bsky.social
LSE and @bspsuk.bsky.social are hosting a workshop on "Being an academic in population studies" on 3 November! It'll be a nice mix of methods training and career advice with great talks by @ericbschneider.bsky.social, Wendy Sigle, José Manuel Aburto, and others!

www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/being-an-a...
The LSE and South Coast ESRC Doctoral Training Partnerships, in collaboration with the British Society of Population Studies, would like to invite you to a jointly-organised masterclass entitled:

“Being an academic in Population Studies: a masterclass for PhD students on data challenges and career progression”

Monday 3 of November 2025, 10am – 4.15 pm (Coffee from 9.30 am, Lunch between 1.15-2.15pm), LSE PhD Academy, LRB 4.02, Lionel Robbins Building (4th Floor), 10 Portugal Street, London WC2A 2HD.

If you would like to reserve a space, please sign up here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/being-anacademic-in-population-studies-a-masterclass-for-phd-students-tickets-1693083350879? aff=oddtdtcreator

For DTP-funded students, we expect that funding for travel expenses and/or accommodation will come from their home DTP (ie. RTSG). For non-DTP-funded students, five bursaries will be available. If you wish to apply for a travel bursary for your travel expenses, please send an email to Adrien Allorant with a provisional budget by the 13th of October.
Reposted by Eric Schneider
hggaddy.bsky.social
📢 Interested in excess mortality methods, and want a challenge? I'm organising the "One Epidemic, Many Estimates" (1EME) project! Register *now* as a many analyst team (submissions due 15 March 2026), and then join us at LSE for a workshop on 21-22 May 2026! (1/n)

www.lse.ac.uk/Economic-His...
One Epidemic, Many Estimates (1EME)
One Epidemic, Many Estimates (1EME)
www.lse.ac.uk
Reposted by Eric Schneider
lseechist.bsky.social
Join this exciting project at the LSE with @ericbschneider.bsky.social and @hggaddy.bsky.social on mortality estimates 📊
hggaddy.bsky.social
📢 Interested in excess mortality methods, and want a challenge? I'm organising the "One Epidemic, Many Estimates" (1EME) project! Register *now* as a many analyst team (submissions due 15 March 2026), and then join us at LSE for a workshop on 21-22 May 2026! (1/n)

www.lse.ac.uk/Economic-His...
One Epidemic, Many Estimates (1EME)
One Epidemic, Many Estimates (1EME)
www.lse.ac.uk
Reposted by Eric Schneider
cwpeconhist.bsky.social
❕New WP from Eric Schneider and Romola Davenport❕
𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐬𝐞 𝐅𝐚𝐭𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐑𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐒𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐩𝐨𝐱?
⬇️
ericbschneider.bsky.social
🚨 Bottom line: The oft-cited 20–30% CFR for Variola major doesn't hold up across time and place.

We argue for a more nuanced, historically grounded view—context matters.

📄 Read the full paper here: www.lse.ac.uk/Economic-His...

6/6
www.lse.ac.uk
ericbschneider.bsky.social
So why is the consensus CFR (20-30%) for endemic smallpox too high?

Three factors likely biased estimates of CFRs upwards:

1) Under-reporting of smallpox cases

2) Positive selection into vaccination after 1796

3) Selection of severe smallpox cases into hospital samples used to estimate CFRs

5/6
ericbschneider.bsky.social
Our findings suggest that smallpox’s lethality wasn’t just about the virus—it was about context.

When adults and children were sick together, there was no one to fetch water, cook food or nurse the sick. High CFRs often reflect crisis conditions, not just the innate virulence of the pathogen.

4/6
ericbschneider.bsky.social
Why the such different CFRs?

In endemic settings like Sweden, smallpox was a childhood disease and adults very rarely contracted smallpox.

But in Iceland, the epidemic struck a population where both adults and children were susceptible. This raised the CFR dramatically.

3/6
Graph showing that where smallpox was endemic, more than 90% of smallpox deaths occurred to children under age 10. However, where epidemic, smallpox deaths could affect adults.
ericbschneider.bsky.social
Using high-quality mortality records, we estimate smallpox CFRs in two very different contexts:

📍 18th-century Sweden (endemic smallpox): CFR ~8–10%
📍 1707-9 Iceland smallpox epidemic: CFR ~40–53%

2/6
ericbschneider.bsky.social
📜 NEW WORKING PAPER 📜

What was the true case fatality rate (CFR) of smallpox?

My new paper with Romola Davenport (Cambridge) revisits this question using 18th-century data from Sweden and Iceland—and challenges the long-held belief that smallpox CFRs were 20–30%.

🧵👇

1/6
Picture of the title and abstract of the paper.
ericbschneider.bsky.social
Really cool to see Jordan describing how the medieval economy worked! He covers interesting questions like: What is a peasant? How market oriented were medieval people? And what role did horses play in the medieval economy?
Reposted by Eric Schneider
lseechist.bsky.social
📖 Join us for this book talk by Cormac O'Grada tomorrow evening in person or online, discussing the casualties of the World Wars. O'Grada argues that civilian deaths in the two #WorldWars were much higher than previously estimated.
#lse #econhist #WWI #WWII

www.lse.ac.uk/Events/2025/...
The hidden victims: civilian casualties of the two world wars
6.30pm Thurs 20 Feb | Cormac Ó Gráda | Free public event at LSE
www.lse.ac.uk
Reposted by Eric Schneider
berkeleypopcenter.bsky.social
We are now accepting applications for our Annual Workshop on Formal Demography, taking place in-person at UC Berkeley on June 2-6, 2025. Deadline to apply is March 10.

See more information on the workshop and how to apply here: populationsciences.berkeley.edu/wp-content/u...

Please share widely!
Reposted by Eric Schneider
lseechist.bsky.social
@lseechist.bsky.social would be pleased to support suitable applications for the following postdoctoral fellowships beginning in 10/2025. Check the eligibility criteria for the schemes, and if eligible, contact @ericbschneider.bsky.social ([email protected]) to discuss your application 1/3
ericbschneider.bsky.social
Final reminder about this workshop. We are also grateful to have received funding from the economic history society that will help cover accommodation costs for a couple of PhD students. Please apply now!
ericbschneider.bsky.social
CFP: Workshop on Health Transitions in the Global South

CFP Deadline 3 February 2025

Workshop 9-10 June 2025 at LSE

Organised by myself and Neil Cummins

Sponsored by the LSE Historical Economic Demography Group
ericbschneider.bsky.social
Just a reminder about this call for papers!
ericbschneider.bsky.social
CFP: Workshop on Health Transitions in the Global South

CFP Deadline 3 February 2025

Workshop 9-10 June 2025 at LSE

Organised by myself and Neil Cummins

Sponsored by the LSE Historical Economic Demography Group
Reposted by Eric Schneider
ericbschneider.bsky.social
CFP: Workshop on Health Transitions in the Global South

CFP Deadline 3 February 2025

Workshop 9-10 June 2025 at LSE

Organised by myself and Neil Cummins

Sponsored by the LSE Historical Economic Demography Group
Reposted by Eric Schneider
eshistdemo.bsky.social
WE KNOW...YOU ARE THINKING!!

📢Call for Papers 6th Conference of the ESHD #Demography Last Days!

The European Society of Historical Demography is pleased to invite submissions for its 6th Conference, to be held in #Bologna #Italy
10-13 September 2025
👉 eshd2025.eshd.eu
ericbschneider.bsky.social
Just reposting this in case anyone missed it last week. Please submit your work!

#EconSky #histmed #demography #econhist
ericbschneider.bsky.social
CFP: Workshop on Health Transitions in the Global South

CFP Deadline 3 February 2025

Workshop 9-10 June 2025 at LSE

Organised by myself and Neil Cummins

Sponsored by the LSE Historical Economic Demography Group
ericbschneider.bsky.social
Would you please add me?
ericbschneider.bsky.social
We hope the workshop will be very interdisciplinary with contributions from economic historians, demographers, development economists and historians of medicine and others. Quantitative and qualitative papers are welcome.
ericbschneider.bsky.social
Question like:

1) what explains the heterogeneity in the timing of the health transition across the Global South;

2) how did colonialism shape the health transition in the Global South;

3) what were the main drivers of the health transition in the Global South.