science

Maddison Project

Maddison Project is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Maddison Project rather than just read about it. In short: The Maddison Project, also known as the Maddison Historical Statistics Project, is a project to collate historical economic statistics, such as GDP, GDP per capita, and labor productivity. It was launched in March 2010 to continue the work of the late economic historian Angus Maddison.

Key takeaways

Maddison Project belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Maddison Project to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Maddison Project from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Maddison Project, also known as the Maddison Historical Statistics Project, is a project to collate historical economic statistics, such as GDP, GDP per capita, and labor productivity. It was launched in March 2010 to continue the work of the late economic historian Angus Maddison. The project is under the Groningen Growth and Development Centre at the University of Groningen, which also hosts the Penn World Table, another economic statistics project.

Reception Development economist Branko Milanović (writing for the World Bank), development economist Morten Jerven, and billionaire philanthropist Bill Gates have identified the Maddison Project, the Penn World Tables, and World Bank/IMF data (the World Development Indicators), as the three main sources of worldwide economic statistics such as GDP data, with the focus of the Maddison Project being on historical data. Economist Paul Krugman has suggested the Maddison Project as a data source for historical debt, growth, and labor output and productivity data. Our World In Data, a website with data-driven discussion of a number of topics related to long-run economic and human development, uses the Maddison Project as one of its data sources.

See also Penn World Table United Nations World Development Indicators The World Economy: Historical Statistics, a 2004 book by Angus Maddison that is an early precursor of the work done by the Maddison Project Angus Maddison statistics of the ten largest economies by GDP (PPP)

References

External links Official website

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Maddison Project

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Maddison Project claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Maddison Project before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Maddison Project ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Maddison Project

In research: Maddison Project appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Maddison Project in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Maddison Project is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 2010 establishments in the Netherlands, Global economic indicators, National accounts, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Maddison Project outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Maddison Project in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Maddison Project means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Maddison Project out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Maddison Project in simple terms?

Why does Maddison Project matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Maddison Project?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Maddison Project.