Akira Hayami (速水融）(1929–2019) was an emeritus professor of

Keio University , mottoeng = The pen is mightier than the sword , type = Private research coeducational higher education institution , established = 1858 , founder = Yukichi Fukuzawa , endowmen ...

and the first to introduce

historical demography Historical demography is the quantitative study of human population in the past. It is concerned with population size, with the three basic components of population change (fertility, mortality, and migration), and with population characteristics ...

in Japan. Professor Hayami is also famous for coining the concept called "

Industrious Revolution The Industrious Revolution was a period in early modern Europe lasting from approximately 1600 to 1800 in which household productivity and consumer demand increased despite the absence of major technological innovations that would mark the later I ...

",which points out the socio-economic change from capital-intensive to labor-intensive one.

Career

*1929: Born in Tokyo, Japan *1948: Entered The Faculty of Economics, Keio University, Tokyo, Japan *1950: Graduated from Keio University *1968: Became the professor of Economics at Keio University *1994: Received Medal of Honor with Purple Ribbon from Japanese government *1995:

Japan Academy Prize (academics) The is a prize awarded by the Japan Academy in recognition of academic theses, books, and achievements. Overviews An award ceremony has been held every year since 1911. Up to nine of these Prizes are awarded every year. There have been 676 w ...

*1991: Emeritus Professor of Keio University *2000:

Person of Cultural Merit is an official Japanese recognition and honor which is awarded annually to select people who have made outstanding cultural contributions. This distinction is intended to play a role as a part of a system of support measures for the promotion of ...

*2001: Elected to be a member of

Japan Academy The Japan Academy (Japanese: 日本学士院, ''Nihon Gakushiin'') is an honorary organisation and science academy founded in 1879 to bring together leading Japanese scholars with distinguished records of scientific achievements. The Academy is c ...

*2008: elected to be a Honorary Member of

French Academy of Sciences The French Academy of Sciences (French: ''Académie des sciences'') is a learned society, founded in 1666 by Louis XIV of France, Louis XIV at the suggestion of Jean-Baptiste Colbert, to encourage and protect the spirit of French Scientific me ...

*2009: Received the

Order of Culture The is a Japanese order, established on February 11, 1937. The order has one class only, and may be awarded to men and women for contributions to Japan's art, literature, science, technology, or anything related to culture in general; recipien ...

from Japanese government *2019: Died on December 4

Industrious Revolution

In the 1960s, Hayami generated a household micro-database called Basic Data Sheet (BDS), based on Tokugawa-period religious inquisition registration (宗門改帳). With the help of this database, he analyzed ca. 900 villages in the Nōbi region in central Japan and exploited the following fact. The number of livestock in these villages decreased gradually between the late 17th century and the 19th century, while the population and production increased or remained constant. Hayami also pointed out that people’s life expectancy improved during the same time span. These facts imply that the quantity of human labor input without livestock must have increased with aggregate output constant; he named this phenomenon “Industrious Revolution.” In this way, Hayami pioneered research to describe population dynamics before the Industrial Revolution with statistical methods in Japan.

References

External links

* https://www.japan-acad.go.jp/en/index.html {{DEFAULTSORT:Hayami, Akira 1929 births 2019 deaths Keio University alumni Academic staff of Keio University Members of the Japan Academy Recipients of the Medal with Purple Ribbon Recipients of the Order of the Rising Sun, 2nd class Persons of Cultural Merit Recipients of the Order of Culture