Study challenges the economic case for farmland enclosure in 19th-century Europe
A new analysis of Swedish land transactions reveals that buyers weren't willing to pay significantly more for enclosed agricultural properties, suggesting that secure property rights alone may have driven productivity gains—or that efficiency improvements were offset by higher costs. The finding complicates the historical narrative about land reform as an engine of agricultural development.
Originaltitel: Enclosures and Productivity in Eastern Sweden—Evidence from the Land Market 1840–1869
<p>Did enclosures lead to increased agricultural productivity? Enclosures have been held to be an important catalyst for agricultural development in eighteenth and nineteenth century Europe, although the results from previous research are mixed. In this article, we provide new evidence using a database of all market transactions of agricultural properties in a Swedish county during the mid-nineteenth century. We show that buyers of agricultural properties did not value enclosed land much higher than open field land. Property rights were thus either sufficiently secure to enable land use intensification regardless or increased production in enclosed farms was counteracted by increasing factor costs.</p>