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When rabbits became humans (and humans, rabbits): stability, order, and history in the study of populations

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  • Erickson, Paul
  • Mitman, Gregg

Abstract

“Population” is often a significant unit of analysis, and a point of passage for facts and models moving between the natural and social sciences, and between animals and humans. But the very existence of a population is a “fact” fraught with challenges: What distinguishes a population from an economy, an ecosystem, a society? Are populations simply memory-less aggregates of solitary individuals, or do they constitute groups with unique histories and agency? Looking at how populations of humans and populations of rabbits were thought of in terms of one another, this paper examines several interlinked episodes in the history of “population” as an organizing concept in 20th century science, tracking the transfer of facts from rabbit populations to human populations (and vice versa) through economics, infectious disease modelling, and macro-histories. What happens when rabbits become human, and when humans become rabbits?

Suggested Citation

  • Erickson, Paul & Mitman, Gregg, 2007. "When rabbits became humans (and humans, rabbits): stability, order, and history in the study of populations," Economic History Working Papers 22517, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehl:wpaper:22517
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    File URL: http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/22517/
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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • O3 - Economic Development, Innovation, Technological Change, and Growth - - Innovation; Research and Development; Technological Change; Intellectual Property Rights
    • Q57 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Ecological Economics
    • B1 - Schools of Economic Thought and Methodology - - History of Economic Thought through 1925

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