Domesday Economy: Analysis of the English Economy Early in the Second Millennium

The Domesday Survey of 1086 provides high quality and detailed information on the outputs, inputs and tax assessments of most English manors. These data can be used to reconstruct the eleventh century Domesday economy. This article describes the Survey, the contemporary institutional arrangements, and the main features of Domesday agricultural production. It shows how frontier methods can be used to assess the efficiency of production and the impact of the feudal and manorial systems on input productivities and production output. The frontier analysis suggests that the average efficiency level of Domesday estates relative to the best practice of the time was similar to, or more favourable than, that of production units in more modern primary industry. Also, input rigidities induced by feudalism and manorialism resulted in widely differing input productivities across estates, and a very significant reduction in overall output.