PSC In The News
Stafford, Schoeni, and Chen find many Americans making little headway against debt
Wightman and Schoeni find most young adults helped financially by parents
Johnston says decline in perceived risk contributes to rise in marijuana use among teens
Patrick calls increase in newborns undergoing drug withdrawal a public health epidemic
Danziger discusses use of IRS data in trend analyses of income distribution
Highlights
Research Professor position in international family demography, PSC/SRC
Pamela Smock elected president of the Association of Population Centers
Elisha Renne awarded Guggenheim Fellowship for African studies
Bob Groves leaving Census Bureau for Georgetown University
Join us in the fall
for more brown bag presentations
Follow us 
George C. Alter
Affiliated Programs:
Michigan Historical Demography Workshop
Funded Research:
Advancing Knowledge and Building the Research Infrastructure in Education and STEM Learning (NSF)
American Indian Demography and Reservation Settlement (PSC Initiatives Fund)
Archiving the Historical Demography of the U.S. (NICHD)
Child Care and Early Education Research Connections (NIH)
Data Preservation Alliance for the Social Sciences (Data-PASS) (Library of Congress)
DataNet Full Proposal: Sustainable Environment through Actionable Data (SEAD) (NSF)
Demographic Analysis of Longitudinal Historical Data (NICHD)
Demographic Data Sharing and Archiving (NICHD)
Infusing Quantitative Literacy throughout the Social Science Curriculum (NSF)
Measures of Effective Teaching (MET) Longitudinal Database (Gates Foundation)
MET Extension Longitudinal Database and Library of Practice (Gates Foundation)
Quantitative Social Science Digital Library Pathway (QSSDL) (NSF)
Rescuing and Archiving Social Science Data (Institute for Museum and Library Services)
Short course in analysis of census and survey data in Ghana (Freedman)
Terra Populus: A Global Population/Environment Data Network (NSF)
Research Professor, Population Studies Center.
Professor, Department of History.
Associate Director, Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research.
Director, Population Institute for Research and Training, Indiana University.
Ph.D., University of Pennsylvania
Dr. Alter's research interests lie in the history of the family, demography, and economic history. Recent work explores demographic responses to economic hardship in Europe and East Asia, and the effects of childhood experiences on health in old age.
Recent Publications
Journal Articles
Alter, George C., Myron Gutmann, Susan Hautaniemi Leonard, and Emily Merchant. 2012. "Introduction: Longitudinal Analysis of Historical-Demographic Data." Journal of Interdisciplinary History, 42(4): 503-517. DOI. Local Access.
Alter, George C., Isabelle Devos, and Alison Kvetko. 2009. "Completing Life Histories with Imputed Exit Dates: A Method for Historical Data from Passive Registration Systems." Population, 64(2): 293-318. Local Access.
Alter, George C., Kees Mandemakers, and Myron Gutmann. 2009. "Defining and Distributing Longitudinal Historical Data in a General Way Through an Intermediate Structure." Historical Social Research, 34(3): 78-114. Public Access. Local Access.
Oris, Michel, and George C. Alter. 2008. "Effets de fratrie et mobilité sociale intergénérationnelle dans la Belgique urbaine et rurale au xixe siècle." Annales de Démographie Historique, 15(1): 115-138. Abstract. Local Access.
Alter, George C., and Michel Oris. 2008. "Effects of Inheritance and Environment on the Heights of Brothers in Nineteenth-century Belgium." Human Nature, 19(1): 44-55. DOI. Abstract. Local Access.
Oris, M., M. Neven, and George C. Alter. 2007. "When protoindustry collapsed fertility and the demographic regime in rural eastern Belgium during the industrial revolution." Historical Social Research-Historische Sozialforschung, 32(2): 137-159. Abstract. Local Access.
Alter, George C., Martin Dribe, and Frans van Poppel. 2007. "Widowhood, Family Size, and Post-Reproductive Mortality: A Comparative Analysis of Three Populations in Nineteenth Century Europe." Demography, 44(4): 785-806. Abstract. Local Access.
Chapters
Alter, George C., M. Neven, and M. Oris. 2010. "Economic change and differential fertility in rural eastern Belgium, 1812 to 1875." In Prudence and pressure : reproduction and human agency in Europe and Asia, 1700-1900 edited by Tsuya, Noriko. :195-216. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.
Oris, Michel, Muriel Neven, and George C. Alter. 2008. "Individuals and communities facing economic stress: a comparison of two rural areas in nineteenth century Belgium." In Living standards in the past: new perspectives on well-being in Asia and Europe edited by Robert C. Allen, Tommy Bengtsson, and Martin Dribe. 373-402. Oxford: Oxford University Press.