Consumption and Living Standards in Early Modern Rural Households: Probate Evidence from Southern Sweden, c. 1680-1860

This paper presents new estimates of the material livings standards among the rural population in southern Sweden from the 1680’s up to 1865. Utilizing a newly constructed database of circa 1800 probate inventories from the benchmark periods 1680-1720, 1780-85, and 1860-65, we analyse the development of consumption patterns for rural households. We find that that all rural households, no matter their socio-economic status, diversified their composition of consumption goods with a special focus towards increased comfort, rather than household reproduction, during the second half of the eighteenth century. The most visible change was in the diversification of cooking- and dining-ware, which corresponds to a contemporary rebuilding of peasant homes to include purpose-built kitchens. This diversification and increase in comfortable consumption furthermore correspond with a diversification of household production strategies during a period of stagnant, of even decreasing, economic growth before the Swedish economic catch-up of the nineteenth century. This suggests that changes in consumption during the period were a conscious decision, likely made possible by increasing access to credit and inter-regional markets.