Lecture 5: Early Agriculture

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Lecture 5 Early Agriculture
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Introduction

• The main issue well be exploring is what
  explains the development, persistence, and
  eventual demise of
• 1.) the open-fields system
• 2.) and serfdom (manorial system)

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The Roman Economy

• Economically, the Roman Empire reached its peak
  from the late 1st Century to the early 3rd
  Century (roughly 90-215 AD).
• One of the most important aspects of the Roman
  economy was the degree of geographical
  specialization it was able to achieve

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The Roman Economy

• A fully developed inter-regional division of
  labor, much more extensive than any thing seen
  before.
• Italy wines, craftwares, and services
• Syria glassware and textile
• France wines and pottery
• Spain grain and olive oil
• Egypt grain, jewelry, and perfumes
• North Africa, Sicily, and Russia grain

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The Roman Economy

• Much of this achievement was explainable by the
  Roman insistence on
• 1.) well-defined (physical) property rights, 2.)
  the enforceability of contracts,
• 3.) freedom of enterprise, and
• 4.) few constraints on commercial activity.

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The Roman Economy

• The Roman economy was also notable for its
  consistent, light and stable tariff system a
  2.5 ad valorem tax on inter-provincial trade
  with a statutory maximum 25 ad valorem on trade
  in luxuries brought in from outside the Empire.

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The Roman Economy

• But an important distinction must be made between
  the spread and role of commerce and its place in
  society.
• The Romans were originally small-scale farmers,
  but as they turned to more martial and
  administrative tasks, they tended to celebrate
  their agricultural roots.

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The Roman Economy

• This gave rise to an agricultural system based on
  small landholdings owned by citizens (one of the
  benefits of service) and on immense plantations
  (latifundia) owned by the upper classes and
  worked by slaves.
• Surpluses generated in agriculture, however, were
  only mobilized (and taxed) by the commercial
  system.

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Collapse

• A familiar story the fall of Rome, barbarian
  hordes, and the Dark Ages (500-1000).
• Collapse only in the western part of the
  Empireroughly from England in the north, Italy
  in the south, Hungary in the east, and Spain in
  the west
• The disruption caused by the invasions led to an
  involution of the former Roman agricultural
  economy.

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Collapse

• Rather than produce (at least some) surplus for
  the market, production became centered around the
  manorial estate
• In many cases, these coincided with the old
  latifundia.
• Lords offered protection from outsiders, but
  former slaves, small landowners, and artisans had
  to bond themselves to the lords

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The open-fields system

• Organization of agricultural labor became
  centered around the manor and the open-fields
  system.
• Origins of open-fields unknown, but the pattern
  is very widespread (even into the present-day).
• Most important aspects

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The open-fields system

• One interpretation has is that the open-fields
  system was developed and adopted as a form of
  risk-sharing (or insurance) for peasants.
• Rationale
• 1.) open fields persisted for a long time

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The open-fields system

• Costs lower agricultural productivity and
  output.
• Benefits lower variance of agricultural output.
• Why? Open fields allowed peasants to spread
  their exposure to micro-climatic and other shocks.

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The open-fields system
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The manorial economy

• After the Magyar and Norse invasions of the 9th
  Century, things began to calm down and commerce
  was on the upswing by around 1000.
• But the fall of Rome had produced extreme
  political fragmentation, meaning more barriers to
  trade.

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The manorial economy

• This is where we pick up the story
• The outcome of the manoralization and open-fields
  system in Western Europe was low agricultural
  productivity.
• Seed-yield ratios
• at best 6 in the most advanced regions,

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The manorial economy

• But alternatives existed...
• Free labormore expensive to hire, but more
  productive
• Enclosed landslimiting access to lands and
  avoiding the tragedy of the commons

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The manorial economy

• Our questions for the week
• Why did these inefficient institutions eventually
  change in some places?
• Why did these inefficient institutions persist
• in some places?
• What can explain these divergent outcomes?