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The Nitrogen Hypothesis and the English Agricultural Revolution: A Biological Analysis

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  • ALLEN, ROBERT C.

Abstract

A biological model of nitrogen in agriculture is specified for early modern England and used to analyze the growth in grain yields from the middle ages to the industrial revolution. Nitrogen-fixing plants accounted for about half of the rise in yields; the rest came from better cultivation, seeds, and drainage. The model highlights the slow chemical reactions that governed the release of the nitrogen introduced by convertible husbandry and the cultivation of legumes. However efficient were England's institutions, nitrogen's chemistry implied that the English agricultural revolution would be much more gradual than the Green Revolution of the twentieth century.

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  • Allen, Robert C., 2008. "The Nitrogen Hypothesis and the English Agricultural Revolution: A Biological Analysis," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 68(1), pages 182-210, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:68:y:2008:i:01:p:182-210_00
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    1. Nathan Nunn & Nancy Qian, 2011. "The Potato's Contribution to Population and Urbanization: Evidence From A Historical Experiment," The Quarterly Journal of Economics, President and Fellows of Harvard College, vol. 126(2), pages 593-650.
    2. Torben Dall Schmidt & Peter Sandholt Jensen & Amber Naz, 2018. "Agricultural productivity and economic development: the contribution of clover to structural transformation in Denmark," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 23(4), pages 387-426, December.
    3. Torben Dall Schmidt & Peter Sandholt Jensen & Amber Naz, 2014. "New crops, local soils and urbanization: Clover, potatoes and the growth of Danish market towns,1672-1901," Working Papers 0065, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    4. Motamed, Mesbah J. & Florax, Raymond J.G.M. & Masters, William J., 2009. "Geography and Economic Transition: Global Spatial Analysis at the Grid Cell Level," 2009 Annual Meeting, July 26-28, 2009, Milwaukee, Wisconsin 49589, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    5. James B. Ang & Rajabrata Banerjee & Jakob B. Madsen, 2013. "Innovation and Productivity Advances in British Agriculture: 1620–1850," Southern Economic Journal, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 80(1), pages 162-186, July.
    6. Garrido, Samuel, 2011. "Fixed-rent contracts and investment incentives. A comparative analysis of English tenant right," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 48(1), pages 66-82, January.
    7. Mario F Carillo, 2021. "Agricultural Policy and Long-Run Development: Evidence from Mussolini's Battle for Grain," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 131(634), pages 566-597.
    8. Mesbah Motamed & Raymond Florax & William Masters, 2014. "Agriculture, transportation and the timing of urbanization: Global analysis at the grid cell level," Journal of Economic Growth, Springer, vol. 19(3), pages 339-368, September.
    9. Carlos Álvarez-Nogal & Leandro Prados De La Escosura & Carlos Santiago-Caballero, 2016. "Spanish agriculture in the little divergence1,2," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 20(4), pages 452-477.
    10. José L. Martínez González, 2019. "High Wages or Wages For Energy? An Alternative View of The British Case (1645-1700)," Working Papers 0158, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    11. Finn Hedefalk & Luciana Quaranta & Tommy Bengtsson, 2017. "Unequal lands: Soil type, nutrition, and child mortality in southern Sweden, 1850-1914," Demographic Research, Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research, Rostock, Germany, vol. 36(36), pages 1039-1080.
    12. Eric B. Schneider, 2011. "Evaluating the Effectiveness of Yield-Raising Strategies in Medieval England: An Econometric Approach," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _090, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    13. Hedefalk, Finn & Quaranta, Luciana & Bengtsson, Tommy, 2016. "Unequal lands: Soil type, nutrition and child mortality in southern Sweden, 1850-1914," Lund Papers in Economic History 148, Lund University, Department of Economic History.
    14. Eric B. Schneider, 2011. "Evaluating the Effectiveness of Yield-Raising Strategies in Medieval England: An Econometric Approach," Oxford University Economic and Social History Series _090, Economics Group, Nuffield College, University of Oxford.
    15. Ulrich Pfister & Michael Kopsidis, 2015. "Institutions versus demand: determinants of agricultural development in Saxony, 1660–1850," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 19(3), pages 275-293.
    16. Manuel González de Molina & Roberto García Ruiz & Gloria Guzmán Casado & David Soto Fernández & Juan Infante Amate, 2010. "Guideline for constructing nutrient balance in historical agricultural systemes (and its application to three case-studies in southern Spain)," Documentos de Trabajo de la Sociedad de Estudios de Historia Agraria 1008, Sociedad de Estudios de Historia Agraria.

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