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The Prudent Peasant: New Findings on Open Fields

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  • McCloskey, Donald N.

Abstract

The usual picture of the medieval peasantry is based on nineteenth-century scholarship, which has proven difficult to dislodge from educated minds. This article continues the revision of an important detail in the picture, the scattering of plots in open fields. Some recent work on the subject by Robert Allen and Gregory Clark is midly disputed, and new evidence is presented that risk avoidance is the key to understanding peasant behavior. The reason for the scattering was not sentiment or socialism. Peasants were not perhaps rational in every detail; but they were prudent.

Suggested Citation

  • McCloskey, Donald N., 1991. "The Prudent Peasant: New Findings on Open Fields," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 51(2), pages 343-355, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:cup:jechis:v:51:y:1991:i:02:p:343-355_03
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    Cited by:

    1. Radost Holler & Paul Ivo Schäfer, 2021. "Norm Prevalence and Interdependence: Evidence from a Large-Scale Historical Survey of German speaking Villages," ECONtribute Discussion Papers Series 118, University of Bonn and University of Cologne, Germany.
    2. Leeson, Peter T. & Harris, Colin, 2018. "Wealth-destroying private property rights," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 107(C), pages 1-9.
    3. J. Mark Ramseyer, 2015. "The Fable of Land Reform: Leases and Credit Markets in Occupied Japan," Journal of Economics & Management Strategy, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 24(4), pages 934-957, October.
    4. Mingardi Alberto, 2017. "Bourgeois Equality: How Ideas, Not Capital or Institutions, Enriched the World: By Deirdre Nansen McCloskey," Man and the Economy, De Gruyter, vol. 4(2), pages 1-15, December.
    5. Christopher Gerrard & David Petley, 2013. "A risk society? Environmental hazards, risk and resilience in the later Middle Ages in Europe," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 69(1), pages 1051-1079, October.
    6. Joshua C. Hall, 2017. "A "Model" Model: McCloskey and the Craft of Economics," Working Papers 17-09, Department of Economics, West Virginia University.
    7. Nadeem Ul Haque, 2006. "Beyond Planning and Mercantilism: An Evaluation of Pakistan’s Growth Strategy," The Pakistan Development Review, Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, vol. 45(1), pages 3-48.
    8. Runge, C. Ford & Defrancesco, Edi, 2006. "Exclusion, Inclusion, and Enclosure: Historical Commons and Modern Intellectual Property," World Development, Elsevier, vol. 34(10), pages 1713-1727, October.
    9. Matranga, Andrea, 2017. "The Ant and the Grasshopper: Seasonality and the Invention of Agriculture," MPRA Paper 76626, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    10. Steven G. Medema, 2020. "The Coase Theorem at Sixty," Journal of Economic Literature, American Economic Association, vol. 58(4), pages 1045-1128, December.
    11. Tine De Moor, 2009. "Avoiding tragedies: a Flemish common and its commoners under the pressure of social and economic change during the eighteenth century1," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 62(1), pages 1-22, February.
    12. David Stead, 2004. "Risk and risk management in English agriculture, c. 1750–1850," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 57(2), pages 334-361, May.
    13. Ho, Hoang-Anh, 2023. "Land rights in historical Vietnam: Theory and evidence," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 90(C).
    14. David Stead, 1998. "An Arduous and Unprofitable Undertaking: The Enclosure of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire," Economics Series Working Papers 1998-W26, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    15. David Stead, 1998. "An Arduous and Unprofitable Undertaking: The Enclosure of Stanton Harcourt, Oxfordshire," Oxford Economic and Social History Working Papers _026, University of Oxford, Department of Economics.
    16. Samuel Garrido, 2010. "Mejorar y quedarse. La cesión de tierra a rentas por debajo del equilibrio en la Valencia del siglo XIX," Documentos de Trabajo de la Sociedad de Estudios de Historia Agraria 1009, Sociedad de Estudios de Historia Agraria.
    17. Sheilagh Ogilvie, 2007. "'Whatever Is, Is Right'?, Economic Institutions in Pre-Industrial Europe (Tawney Lecture 2006)," CESifo Working Paper Series 2066, CESifo.
    18. Harris,Colin & Cai,Meina & Murtazashvili,Ilia & Murtazashvili,Jennifer Brick, 2020. "The Origins and Consequences of Property Rights," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9781108969055.
    19. Runge, C. Ford, 2004. "Sustainability And Enclosure: Land, Intellectual Property And Biotechnology," Working Papers 14464, University of Minnesota, Center for International Food and Agricultural Policy.
    20. 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.
    21. 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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