IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/arh/jpopec/v9y2025i3p60-79.html

Microanalysis of Peasant Households in the Era of Modernization: Evidence from the Russian Empire

Author

Listed:
  • Natalia A. Rozinskaya

    (Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia)

  • Dmitry V. Artamonov

    (Lomonosov Moscow State University, Moscow, Russia)

Abstract

The article presents the results of the econometric analysis of microdata obtained from drawing up the budgets of peasant households in five regions – two European (Novgorod province, Simbirsk province) and three Asian (Ural region, Central Asian and Far Eastern) – in the period from the beginning of the Stolypin reform (1906) to the outbreak of the First World War (1914). The purpose of the study is to shed light on the question of whether there was an agrarian revolution in pre-revolutionary Russia. The regression analysis of the production function showed that the main factor significantly influencing the output is the amount of land, followed by the number of horses, with number of workers being insignificant. At the same time, it follows from the stochastic boundary model applied to the production function that there are no technologically special differences between the regions, whereas technologies did not differ much from previous centuries. Study of peasant farms' embeddedness in market relations demonstrated that marketability in all the regions was approximately 31-37%. It is concluded that during the period under study in Russia, the modernization of the agricultural sector was at an initial stage, that is, the processes that could later lead to an agrarian revolution were just beginning.

Suggested Citation

  • Natalia A. Rozinskaya & Dmitry V. Artamonov, 2025. "Microanalysis of Peasant Households in the Era of Modernization: Evidence from the Russian Empire," Population and Economics, ARPHA Platform, vol. 9(3), pages 60-79, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:arh:jpopec:v:9:y:2025:i:3:p:60-79
    DOI: 10.3897/popecon.9.e127923
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://populationandeconomics.pensoft.net/article/127923/
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.3897/popecon.9.e127923?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Tracy Dennison & Steven Nafziger, 2011. "Micro-Perspectives on Living Standards in Nineteenth-Century Russia," Department of Economics Working Papers 2011-07, Department of Economics, Williams College.
    2. Leonard,Carol S., 2011. "Agrarian Reform in Russia," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521858496, Enero-Abr.
    3. Allen, Robert C., 1992. "Enclosure and the Yeoman: The Agricultural Development of the South Midlands 1450-1850," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780198282969.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Robert W. Fogel, 2003. "Forecasting The Demand For Health Care In Oecd Nations And China," Contemporary Economic Policy, Western Economic Association International, vol. 21(1), pages 1-10, January.
    2. Paul Slack, 2009. "Material progress and the challenge of affluence in seventeenth‐century England," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 62(3), pages 576-603, August.
    3. Peter M. Solar, 1995. "Poor relief and English economic development before the industrial revolution," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 48(1), pages 1-22, February.
    4. M. Aykut Attar, 2023. "Technology and survival in preindustrial England: a Malthusian view," Journal of Population Economics, Springer;European Society for Population Economics, vol. 36(4), pages 2071-2110, October.
    5. van Bavel, Bas, 2016. "The Invisible Hand?: How Market Economies have Emerged and Declined Since AD 500," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199608133.
    6. Bekar, Cliff T. & Reed, Clyde G., 2003. "Open fields, risk, and land divisibility," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 40(3), pages 308-325, July.
    7. 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.
    8. Dan Bogart, 2009. "Turnpike trusts and property income: new evidence on the effects of transport improvements and legislation in eighteenth‐century England1," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 62(1), pages 128-152, February.
    9. Stanley L. Engerman & Kenneth Lee Sokoloff, 2002. "Factor Endowments, Inequality, and Paths of Development Among New World Economies," Economía Journal, The Latin American and Caribbean Economic Association - LACEA, vol. 0(Fall 2002), pages 41-110.
    10. Stephan Heblich & Alex Trew, 2019. "Banking and Industrialization," Journal of the European Economic Association, European Economic Association, vol. 17(6), pages 1753-1796.
    11. Vicente Pinilla & Miguel Martin-Retortillo, 2012. "Why did agricultural labour productivity not converge in Europe, 1950-2006?," Working Papers 12016, Economic History Society.
    12. Griewald, Yuliana & Clemens, Gerhard & Kamp, Johannes & Gladun, Elena & Hölzel, Norbert & von Dressler, Hubertus, 2017. "Developing land use scenarios for stakeholder participation in Russia," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 68(C), pages 264-276.
    13. Robert W. Fogel, 1999. "Catching Up with the Economy," American Economic Review, American Economic Association, vol. 89(1), pages 1-21, March.
    14. Robert W. Fogel, 2004. "Changes in the Disparities in Chronic Disease during the Course of the Twentieth Century," NBER Working Papers 10311, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc.
    15. Deng, Kent & O'Brien, Patrick, 2014. "Clarifying data for reciprocal comparisons of nutritional standards of living in England and the Yangtze Delta (Jiangnan), c.1644 – c.1840," Economic History Working Papers 59303, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    16. Urquiola, Miguel & Acemoglu, Daron, 2002. "Comments," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 123199, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    17. Baker, Matthew J. & Conning, Jonathan, 2021. "The Transformations of Customary Property Regimes in Africa: An Analytical Framing," 2021 Conference, August 17-31, 2021, Virtual 315325, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    18. Lazuka, Volha & Bengtsson, Tommy & Svensson, Patrick, 2023. "The Causal Effects of Enclosures on Production and Productivity," IZA Discussion Papers 16394, IZA Network @ LISER.
    19. Nico Voigtländer & Hans-Joachim Voth, 2006. "Why England? Demographic factors, structural change and physical capital accumulation during the Industrial Revolution," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 11(4), pages 319-361, December.
    20. Kopsidis, Michael & Wolf, Nikolaus, 2012. "Agricultural Productivity Across Prussia During the Industrial Revolution: A Thünen Perspective," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 72(3), pages 634-670, August.

    More about this item

    Keywords

    ;

    JEL classification:

    • N - Economic History

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:arh:jpopec:v:9:y:2025:i:3:p:60-79. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Teodor Georgiev (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://populationandeconomics.pensoft.net/ .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.