In this project, the goal is to achieve an statistical analysis of jurists and economists. We will try to highlight certain properties. The properties are nationality (single or multiple), gender, and date of birth. Afterware, we will be able to carry out an analysis of the study sites. Another interesting property are the other practiced occupations. The aim is to connect data and to see if some careers or profiles emerged. (eg. At a given time, is a profession more privileged?)
Nonetheless, obtaining these properties are contingent to the amount of data from databases, and their qualities. There is a great disproportion on the information quantity available on DBpedia, Wikidata, and BnF Data. The two first have data created by manifold users (even if there is a large moderation). Conversely, on BnF Data, the records are "handmade". Therefore, the objective these plateforme is dissimilar. On BnF Data, the records are made to have some authorities on the works. For Wikidata and DBpedia, the goal is to create the most complete encyclopedia as possible. As we can see, the approaches are not the same. The data and the properties available on Wikidata and DBpedia are not homogeneous between the individuals (subjected to what users entered).
It is necessary to establish the population to define spatial and temporal boundaries. For the temporal boundaries, we chose to start our study in 1770. We include only people born after this date. This date choice corresponds to the date where an individual born in 1770 is in an activity period in 1830. The date of 1830 is an important social marker. And there is homogeneity after this date. Then, it is also that the practices of these disciplines remain the same since this period. On the contrary, we chose to study until today to see the constancies and the variations. For the spatial limits, we chose the maximum limits and to study the geographic disparities.
It is important to define a population's boundaries, to distinguish who is inside and outside of the definitions of "economist" and "jurist" and correctly request the SPARQL endpoints.
We will start by defining the word "economist" First of all, we can read Cambridge dictionary's definition:
a person who studies or has a special knowledge of economics.
This definition is quite simple. We can repeat the same procedure for the definition of "economics":
the scientific study of the system by which a country’s wealth is made and used
By this definition, we can say that the "economist" is someone who is a specialist of the system above (even if other definitions are given, this one is the best for us). It is also interesting to see the definition given on Wikipedia (since part of our data comes from it).
We can notice that there is a distinction between the term "economics" (Wikipedia en - Economics) and the term "economy" ( Wikipedia en - Economy). This distinction is also in French but without a different word to distinguish them. In French, we have the word "économie" ( Wikipedia fr - économie (disclipline)) as a scientific discipline and économie as an area ( Wikipedia fr - économie (activité humaine)). The Wikipedia definition on "economics" is clearer:
Economics is the social science that studies how people interact with value; in particular, the production, distribution, and consumption of goods and services
Now, in our study, we will only use the term "économie" as a scientific discipline. In addition, in the French language, there is an opposition between the terms "économie politique" (political economics) and "économie domestique" (consumer economics). However in English language, 'consumer economics' is a branch of economics and 'political economics' is a distinct discipline.
We can use the same procedure for the definition of jurist. The Cambridge dictionary gives this definition:
an expert in law, especially a judge
There is a little difference with the Wikipedia definition:
A jurist is a person with expert knowledge of law; someone who analyses and comments on law. This person is usually a specialist legal scholar—not necessarily with a formal qualification in law or a legal practitioner, although in the United States the term “jurist” may be applied to a judge. […] The English term jurist is to be distinguished from similar terms in other European languages, where it may be synonymous with legal professional, i.e. anyone with a professional law degree that qualifies for legal work.
In comparison, we can read the french definition of "juriste":
Celui qui, spécialisé dans la science du droit, en fait profession, par la pratique ou par des écrits.
We can observe a distinction between the French term of "juriste" and the English term. The French definition is closer to the definition of "legal professional":
Legal profession is a profession, and legal professionals study, develop and apply law. Usually, there is a requirement for someone choosing a career in law to first obtain a law degree or some other form of legal education.
We can notice that the words "lawyer" and "juriste", are similar:
A lawyer or attorney is a person who practices law, as an advocate, attorney at law, barrister, barrister-at-law, bar-at-law, canonist, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, counsellor, solicitor, legal executive, or public servant preparing, interpreting and applying law, but not as a paralegal or charter executive secretary. Working as a lawyer involves the practical application of abstract legal theories and knowledge to solve specific individualized problems, or to advance the interests of those who hire lawyers to perform legal services. The role of the lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions.
In our research, all three definitions can describe a jurist therefore we will use them to do our SPARQL queries.