Overview
Griffith Feeney is an American demographer known for co-developing the Bongaarts-Feeney (B-F) tempo-adjustment framework. Working with John Bongaarts, he derived the formula TFR*(t) = TFR(t) / (1 − r(t)) that strips the timing-distortion component from the period TFR, and its parity-specific extension. He subsequently co-authored papers extending the tempo-correction logic to period life expectancy. He has been affiliated with the East-West Center (Honolulu) and has worked as an independent demographic researcher.
Key Contributions / Features
- Bongaarts and Feeney (1998, PDR): Co-developer of the foundational B-F tempo-adjustment formula for the period TFR. The formula corrects for the mechanical depression of period TFR when mean age at childbearing rises (postponement of births) by dividing the observed TFR by (1−r), where r is the annual rate of change in mean age at birth. Parity-specific version: TFRj∗(t)=TFRj(t)/(1−rj(t)). Critiqued by Kohler and Ortega (2002) for conflating parity-distribution effects with true timing effects.
- Bongaarts and Feeney (2002, PDR) / (2003, Population Studies): Extended the tempo-correction concept to period life expectancy, proposing a tempo-adjusted e0. Wilmoth (2005) later showed that this tempo-adjusted e₀ equals the Cross-Sectional Average Length of Life (CAL) — a meaningful measure of current mortality conditions but not a bias correction to period e₀.
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