IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ehsrev/v63y2010i3p664-687.html

Political fragmentation, competition, and investment decisions: the medieval grinding industry in Ponthieu, France, 1150–1250

Author

Listed:
  • KARINE VAN DER BEEK

Abstract

This article explores the effects of political structure on rulers' monopolistic gains and investment decisions in the context of the medieval milling industry in northern France, 1150–1250. Using Salop's spatial model, this article aims to show that political fragmentation increased investment in watermill construction because it reduced the capacity of rulers to limit competition from neighbouring mills. The calculations demonstrate that competition significantly reduced rulers' income from watermills and that the construction of more than 50 per cent of these mills cannot be economically ‘justified’ unless rulers' profit maximization over joint production is considered, and revenues from additional labour allocated to wheat production is included.

Suggested Citation

  • Karine Van Der Beek, 2010. "Political fragmentation, competition, and investment decisions: the medieval grinding industry in Ponthieu, France, 1150–1250," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 63(3), pages 664-687, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:63:y:2010:i:3:p:664-687
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2009.00484.x
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0289.2009.00484.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1468-0289.2009.00484.x?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. Karakacili, Eona, 2004. "English Agrarian Labor Productivity Rates Before the Black Death: A Case Study," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 64(1), pages 24-60, March.
    2. Steven C. Salop, 1979. "Monopolistic Competition with Outside Goods," Bell Journal of Economics, The RAND Corporation, vol. 10(1), pages 141-156, Spring.
    3. Landers, John, 2003. "The Field and the Forge: Population, Production, and Power in the Pre-industrial West," OUP Catalogue, Oxford University Press, number 9780199249169.
    4. Allen, Robert C., 2001. "The Great Divergence in European Wages and Prices from the Middle Ages to the First World War," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 38(4), pages 411-447, October.
    5. Kevin Greene, 2000. "Technological innovation and economic progress in the ancient world: M. I. Finley re-considered," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 53(1), pages 29-59, February.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. der Beek, Karine van, 2010. "The effects of political fragmentation on investments: A case study of watermill construction in medieval Ponthieu, France," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 47(4), pages 369-380, October.
    2. van der Beek, Karine & Mokyr, Joel & Sarid, Assaf, 2019. "The Wheels of Change: Technology Adoption, Millwrights, and Persistence in Britain’s Industrialization," CEPR Discussion Papers 14138, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.

    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. Rohan Dutta & David K. Levine & Nicholas W. Papageorge & Lemin Wu, 2018. "Entertaining Malthus: Bread, Circuses, And Economic Growth," Economic Inquiry, Western Economic Association International, vol. 56(1), pages 358-380, January.
    2. Daniel Barbezat, 2011. "The Economic History of European Growth," Chapters, in: Gail M. Hoyt & KimMarie McGoldrick (ed.), International Handbook on Teaching and Learning Economics, chapter 51, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    3. Koyama, Mark, 2012. "The transformation of labor supply in the pre-industrial world," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 81(2), pages 505-523.
    4. Mark Koyama, 2009. "The Price of Time and Labour Supply: From the Black Death to the Industrious Revolution," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _078, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    5. Voth, Hans-Joachim & Voigtländer, Nico, 2009. "The Three Horsemen of Growth: Plague, War and Urbanization in Early Modern Europe," CEPR Discussion Papers 7275, C.E.P.R. Discussion Papers.
    6. Temin, Peter, 2002. "Price Behavior in Ancient Babylon," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 39(1), pages 46-60, January.
    7. Mark Koyama, 2009. "The Price of Time and Labour Supply: From the Black Death to the Industrious Revolution," Oxford University Economic and Social History Series _078, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
    8. Hans-Joachim Voth, 2013. "The Three Horsemen of Riches: Plague, War, and Urbanization in Early Modern Europe," The Review of Economic Studies, Review of Economic Studies Ltd, vol. 80(2), pages 774-811.
    9. Peter Temin, 2015. "The Cambridge History of "Capitalism"," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 53(4), pages 996-1016, December.
    10. de Palma, André & Lindsey, Robin, 2001. "Optimal timetables for public transportation," Transportation Research Part B: Methodological, Elsevier, vol. 35(8), pages 789-813, September.
    11. Li, Youping & Shuai, Jie, 2019. "Monopolistic competition, price discrimination and welfare," Economics Letters, Elsevier, vol. 174(C), pages 114-117.
    12. repec:ehl:lserod:56786 is not listed on IDEAS
    13. Frank Stähler & Thorsten Upmann, 2008. "Market Entry Regulation and International Competition," Review of International Economics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 16(4), pages 611-626, September.
    14. Rainer Andergassen & Guido Candela & Paolo Figini, 2017. "The management of tourism destinations," Tourism Economics, , vol. 23(1), pages 49-65, February.
    15. Moatsos, Michail & de Zwart, Pim, 2025. "Real wages around the world: Insights from linear programming and accounting for climate differences," Economics & Human Biology, Elsevier, vol. 59(C).
    16. Barboza, Gustavo, and Valerien Pede, 2024. "Weak vs Strong Knowledge Spillover Effects. Evidence from Geographic Distribution of Innovative Startup in Italy," The Review of Regional Studies, Southern Regional Science Association, vol. 54(2), pages 163-191.
    17. Hidalgo-Gallego, Soraya & Núñez-Sánchez, Ramón & Coto-Millán, Pablo, 2017. "Spatial non-price competition in port infrastructure services," MPRA Paper 80417, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    18. David de la CROIX, 2014. "Economic Growth," LIDAM Discussion Papers IRES 2014019, Université catholique de Louvain, Institut de Recherches Economiques et Sociales (IRES).
    19. Nagler Matthew G., 2007. "Understanding the Internet's Relevance to Media Ownership Policy: A Model of Too Many Choices," The B.E. Journal of Economic Analysis & Policy, De Gruyter, vol. 7(1), pages 1-28, June.
    20. Foreman-Peck, James, 2011. "The Western European marriage pattern and economic development," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 48(2), pages 292-309, April.
    21. Edoardo Demo & Roberto Ricciuti & Mattia Viale, 2018. "Decomposing Economic Inequality in Early Modern Venice (ca. 1650-1800)," HHB Working Papers Series 12, The Historical Household Budgets Project.

    More about this item

    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:bla:ehsrev:v:63:y:2010:i:3:p:664-687. 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: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ehsukea.html .

    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.