Displaying Nonlinear Age-Period-Cohort Patterns on Lexis Plots

Enrique Acosta , Université de Montréal
Alyson A. van Raalte, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research

The identification of age-period-cohort (APC) patterns on vital rate changes over time is of great importance for the understanding of demographic phenomenon. Graphical analyses are often regarded as more transparent than statistical modeling in the identification of APC effects. The current paper proposes a Lexis plot for the analysis of irregularities in vital rates that are indicative of nonlinear APC effects. This visual display offers a higher level of flexibility than mathematical models and other Lexis plots. In one single visualization, we combine the dynamics of the location, magnitude, and spread of temporal effects for multiple populations or demographic phenomenon. Using vital rates, we provide three examples analyzing APC nonlinear effects on different demographic phenomenon. We display patterns of modal cohort of baby boomers’ excess drug-related mortality by racial/ethnic group in the US; modal age of young-adult excess mortality by country; and modal age of fertility over cohorts across populations.

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 Presented in Session 146. Flash Session: Data Visualizations, Open Source, and Other Tools of Applied Demography