The Persistence of Harvest Shocks in Medieval England
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 5752979 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Cliff T Bekar (0000-0002-8413-8351, Lewis & Clark College, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2019 |
| Volume | 79 |
| Issue | 4 |
| Pages | 954-988 |
| Publication date | 2019-12-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | The Journal of Economic History (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 0022-0507 • E-ISSN: 1471-6372 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s0022050719000524 |
| OpenAlex | W2974805258 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 5 |
| References cited | 51 |
I present evidence that shocks to the Medieval English harvest persisted. Hypothesized mechanisms include varying supplies of seed corn and other complementary harvest inputs. Peasants are modeled as trading off current consumption against grain stores and sow rates so that subsistence-level shocks may persist. For my sample I find that a failed harvest increased the probability of subsequent harvest failure by 20-30 percent. Grain yields are analyzed as a strongly balanced panel by year, manor, and crop. While I reject the hypothesis that harvests were self-contained annual events, I caution against linking harvest persistence directly to runs in grain prices
Agricultural economics · Agriculture · Agronomy · Biology · Consumption (sociology) · Crop · Economics · Persistence (discontinuity) · Sample (material) · Subsistence agriculture · Agricultural risk and resilience · Culture, Economy, and Development Studies · Ecology · Historical Economic and Social Studies
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Climate and society in European history
Famines in medieval and early modern Europe—Connecting climate and society
The impact of drought on northern European pre-industrial agriculture
English farmers' wheat storage and sales in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries
The ties that bound
The Great Transition
Standards of Living in the Later Middle Ages
English Seigniorial Agriculture, 1250–1450
Saving and Liquidity Constraints
The population history of England, 1541-1871
Income Risk, Coping Strategies, and Safety Nets
Grain Prices and Subsistence Crises in England and France, 1590–1740
The Prudent Village
Arable Productivity in Medieval England
The Medieval Village
Crop Failures on the Winchester Manors 1232-1349 A. D.; Some Comments
Crop Failures on the Winchester Manors, 1232-1349
Life, Marriage and Death in a Medieval Parish
Nature as historical protagonist
Consumption Insurance
Storage and English Government Intervention in Early Modern Grain Markets
Living standards and mortality since the middle ages
Evidence in the'Nonarum Inquisitiones'of Contracting Arable Lands in England during the Early Fourteenth Century
Risk, Crop Choice, and Savings
Dearth and the English revolution
Disease or Famine? Mortality in Cumberland and Westmorland 1580-16401
Income Smoothing and Consumption Smoothing
Disease or Famine? Mortality in Cumberland and Westmorland 1580-1640
The impact of drought in early fourteenth-centuryEngland
Some Evidence of the Thirteenth Century Population Increase
Standards of living and capital formation in pre-plague England
Peasant Welfare in England, 1290-1348
Agricultural Technology and the Margin of Cultivation in the Fourteenth Century
Cereal Yields on the Sussex Estates of Battle Abbey during the Later Middle Ages
Winchester Yields
Evidence of Weather in the Account Rolls of the Bishopric of Winchester 1209-1350
The Low Yields of Corn in Medieval England
Agrarian Economy after the Black Death
Transaction Costs, Whig History, and the Common Fields
| Unique citing works | 5 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 0,83 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2023 (4) |
| Citation velocity | historical |
| Highly cited | No |
| Citation types | Neutral: 5 |