Harvest Shortfalls, Grain Prices, and Famines in Pre-industrial England
نویسنده
چکیده
1 Fresh data on English grain yields 1268-1480 are combined with revised price series to measure the frequency and scale of serious harvest shortfalls and estimate the elasticity of demand for cereals. Major food availability declines are shown to have been a significant component of most historical subsistence crises, as back-to-back shortfalls were of the worst famines. Although farmers did achieve some reduction in yield variance c.1400 to c.1800, serious harvest shortfalls long remained an unavoidable fact of economic life. England's progressive escape from famine therefore arose primarily from improved market integration coupled with more effective protection of the entitlements of the poor.
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