Climate and Economy in Eighteenth-Century Switzerland

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4010035
AutoresC Pfister (0000-0002-5920-4468, autor de correspondencia)
Año1978
Volumen9
Número2
Páginas223
Fecha de publicación1978-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaThe Journal of Interdisciplinary History (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0022-1953 • E-ISSN: 1530-9169
EditorialJSTOR (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/203226
OpenAlexW2080274221
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas20

Climate and Economy in Eighteenth-Century Switzerland Only recently have historians begun to analyze the relationship between climate and economy. Utterstroem's study represents one of the first attempts to examine systematically the effects of climatic fluctuations upon population changes. Le Roy Ladurie, in Times of Feast, Times of Famine, deals mainly with the physical aspect of climatic history, which is regarded as the basis for the study of ecological history. However, surprisingly few studies have gone beyond sheer descriptions relating weather conditions to fluctuations in yields, food prices, and mortality. The most important are those of Titow and Jones on England and that of Post on early nineteenth-century Europe.1 Most economic historians have been reluctant to investigate the significance of meteorological patterns for economic and demographic behavior. This is probably because they are not familiar with the basic theories and data sources. Further, experience in modern Europe and America suggests that weather is no longer an important influence on economic change, although recent events indicate a reappearing vulnerability of man's economy and society to climatic variation. Societies in which agriculture represented a large proportion of economic output were much more concerned about fluctuations in weather. In their chronicles, remarkable meteorological events are frequently mentioned and often related to harvest failures, starvation, and high mortality. Despite their colorful exag

Economics · Economy · Geography · Political science · Historical Economic and Social Studies · Tree-ring climate responses