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The landlord lag – productivity on peasant farms and landlord demesnes during the agricultural revolution in Sweden 1700–1860

Olsson, Mats LU and Svensson, Patrick LU (2016) In Scandinavian Economic History Review 64(1). p.55-71
Abstract
In a longstanding debate among economic historians about the role of the peasants and the manors in the agrarian transformation, a variety of qualitative and quantitative indicators have been used, but no one has until now been able to compare the actual production outcomes. In this paper, we investigate the land productivity development for manorial demesnes and peasant farmers, respectively, over the course of the agricultural revolution. The sources used are unique in an international perspective and consists of tithes on individual farm level for 34 parishes in Scania, covering over 2500 peasant farms, which are compared with production data for 20 manorial demesnes.



The study generates vital information on the... (More)
In a longstanding debate among economic historians about the role of the peasants and the manors in the agrarian transformation, a variety of qualitative and quantitative indicators have been used, but no one has until now been able to compare the actual production outcomes. In this paper, we investigate the land productivity development for manorial demesnes and peasant farmers, respectively, over the course of the agricultural revolution. The sources used are unique in an international perspective and consists of tithes on individual farm level for 34 parishes in Scania, covering over 2500 peasant farms, which are compared with production data for 20 manorial demesnes.



The study generates vital information on the process of agricultural transformation and its leading actors. We assess the implications of the productivity development for the total production, and the spectacular growth in this under the agricultural revolution, by calculating production and surplus among the different types of cultivators. Our results show that the landlords gained a small advantage in the middle of the 1700s, but in the century to come, they lagged behind in terms of land productivity. A large peasantry cultivating the majority of the land did not constitute an obstacle to growth, but rather the reverse. (Less)
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author
and
organization
publishing date
type
Contribution to journal
publication status
published
subject
keywords
Agriculture, Sweden, peasant farmers, landlords, productivity, N53, N93, O43, Q15
in
Scandinavian Economic History Review
volume
64
issue
1
pages
7 pages
publisher
Routledge
external identifiers
  • scopus:84961182704
  • wos:000384599300005
ISSN
0358-5522
DOI
10.1080/03585522.2015.1123767
language
English
LU publication?
yes
id
e76ae352-d977-40e0-89d1-892513e21549 (old id 8814750)
date added to LUP
2016-04-01 13:15:26
date last changed
2022-02-19 03:46:09
@article{e76ae352-d977-40e0-89d1-892513e21549,
  abstract     = {{In a longstanding debate among economic historians about the role of the peasants and the manors in the agrarian transformation, a variety of qualitative and quantitative indicators have been used, but no one has until now been able to compare the actual production outcomes. In this paper, we investigate the land productivity development for manorial demesnes and peasant farmers, respectively, over the course of the agricultural revolution. The sources used are unique in an international perspective and consists of tithes on individual farm level for 34 parishes in Scania, covering over 2500 peasant farms, which are compared with production data for 20 manorial demesnes.<br/><br>
<br/><br>
The study generates vital information on the process of agricultural transformation and its leading actors. We assess the implications of the productivity development for the total production, and the spectacular growth in this under the agricultural revolution, by calculating production and surplus among the different types of cultivators. Our results show that the landlords gained a small advantage in the middle of the 1700s, but in the century to come, they lagged behind in terms of land productivity. A large peasantry cultivating the majority of the land did not constitute an obstacle to growth, but rather the reverse.}},
  author       = {{Olsson, Mats and Svensson, Patrick}},
  issn         = {{0358-5522}},
  keywords     = {{Agriculture; Sweden; peasant farmers; landlords; productivity; N53; N93; O43; Q15}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  number       = {{1}},
  pages        = {{55--71}},
  publisher    = {{Routledge}},
  series       = {{Scandinavian Economic History Review}},
  title        = {{The landlord lag – productivity on peasant farms and landlord demesnes during the agricultural revolution in Sweden 1700–1860}},
  url          = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03585522.2015.1123767}},
  doi          = {{10.1080/03585522.2015.1123767}},
  volume       = {{64}},
  year         = {{2016}},
}