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Editor's choice Serfs and the city: market conditions, surplus extraction institutions, and urban growth in early modern Poland

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  • Mikołaj Malinowski

Abstract

I investigate the relation between institutions, markets, and preindustrial economic growth. In particular, I analyze the impact of coercive agricultural class structures on urban population growth in Poland. My main point is that the impact of the demesne economy based on serfdom on urban growth was neither inherently negative nor positive. Instead, I suggest that the effect of serfdom depended on market conditions. I propose a new mechanism that explains how higher monetary and labor duties charged by landlords to their enserfed tenant farmers could have made urban settlements more resilient to a market crisis. I find empirical support for this idea with use of new database on urban settlements.

Suggested Citation

  • Mikołaj Malinowski, 2016. "Editor's choice Serfs and the city: market conditions, surplus extraction institutions, and urban growth in early modern Poland," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 20(2), pages 123-146.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:ereveh:v:20:y:2016:i:2:p:123-146.
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Sheilagh Ogilvie & A. W. Carus, 2014. "Institutions and Economic Growth in Historical Perspective: Part 2," CESifo Working Paper Series 4862, CESifo.
    2. Domar, Evsey D., 1970. "The Causes of Slavery or Serfdom: A Hypothesis," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 30(1), pages 18-32, March.
    3. Dennison,Tracy, 2011. "The Institutional Framework of Russian Serfdom," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521194488.
    4. J.Baten & J.Wallusch, 2005. "Market Integration and Disintegration of Poland and Germany in the 18th Century," Economies et Sociétés (Serie 'Histoire Economique Quantitative'), Association Française de Cliométrie (AFC), issue 33, pages 1233-1264, July.
    5. Persson,Karl Gunnar, 1999. "Grain Markets in Europe, 1500–1900," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521650960.
    6. Ogilvie, Sheilagh & Carus, A.W., 2014. "Institutions and Economic Growth in Historical Perspective," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 8, pages 403-513, Elsevier.
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    Cited by:

    1. Baten Joerg & Szołtysek Mikołaj & Campestrini Monica, 2017. "“Girl Power” in Eastern Europe? The human capital development of Central-Eastern and Eastern Europe in the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries and its determinants," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 21(1), pages 29-63.
    2. Mikołaj Malinowski & Jan Luiten Zanden, 2017. "Income and its distribution in preindustrial Poland," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 11(3), pages 375-404, September.
    3. Mikołaj Malinowski, 2016. "Little Divergence revisited: Polish weighted real wages in a European perspective, 1500–1800," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 20(3), pages 345-367.
    4. Jensen, Peter Sandholt & Radu, Cristina Victoria & Severgnini, Battista & Sharp, Paul, 2018. "The introduction of serfdom and labor markets," CAGE Online Working Paper Series 393, Competitive Advantage in the Global Economy (CAGE).
    5. Matthias Morys, 2022. "Has Eastern Europe Always Lagged Behind the West? Historical Evidence from Pre‐1870," Review of Income and Wealth, International Association for Research in Income and Wealth, vol. 68(S1), pages 3-21, April.
    6. Geloso, Vincent & Kufenko, Vadim & Arsenault-Morin, Alex P., 2023. "The lesser shades of labor coercion: The impact of seigneurial tenure in nineteenth-century Quebec," Journal of Development Economics, Elsevier, vol. 163(C).

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