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Serfs and the city: market conditions, surplus extraction institutions and urban growth in Poland, 1500-1772

Malinowski, Mikołaj LU (2016) In European Review of Economic History 20(2). p.123-146
Abstract
I investigate the relation between institutions, markets, and preindustrial economic growth. In particular, I analyze the impact of coercive agricultural class structures on urban population growth in Poland. My main point is that the impact of the demesne economy based on serfdom on urban growth was neither inherently negative nor positive. Instead, I suggest that the effect of serfdom depended on market conditions. I propose a new mechanism that explains how higher monetary and labor duties charged by landlords to their enserfed tenant farmers could have made urban settlements more resilient to a market crisis. I find empirical support for this idea with use of new database on urban settlements.
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
in
European Review of Economic History
volume
20
issue
2
pages
123 - 146
publisher
Oxford University Press
external identifiers
  • scopus:84973160865
ISSN
1474-0044
DOI
10.1093/ereh/hew002
language
English
LU publication?
no
id
06d26cbc-6243-48af-84c3-327190c28f8e
date added to LUP
2016-09-06 16:05:45
date last changed
2022-04-24 17:27:25
@article{06d26cbc-6243-48af-84c3-327190c28f8e,
  abstract     = {{I investigate the relation between institutions, markets, and preindustrial economic growth. In particular, I analyze the impact of coercive agricultural class structures on urban population growth in Poland. My main point is that the impact of the demesne economy based on serfdom on urban growth was neither inherently negative nor positive. Instead, I suggest that the effect of serfdom depended on market conditions. I propose a new mechanism that explains how higher monetary and labor duties charged by landlords to their enserfed tenant farmers could have made urban settlements more resilient to a market crisis. I find empirical support for this idea with use of new database on urban settlements.}},
  author       = {{Malinowski, Mikołaj}},
  issn         = {{1474-0044}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{2}},
  pages        = {{123--146}},
  publisher    = {{Oxford University Press}},
  series       = {{European Review of Economic History}},
  title        = {{Serfs and the city: market conditions, surplus extraction institutions and urban growth in Poland, 1500-1772}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/ereh/hew002}},
  doi          = {{10.1093/ereh/hew002}},
  volume       = {{20}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}