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Did the Black Death cause economic development by ‘inventing’ fertility restriction?
[Land use and management in the upland demesne of the De Lacy estate of Blackburnshire c. 1300]

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  • Jeremy Edwards
  • Sheilagh Ogilvie

Abstract

The Black Death is claimed to have caused the European Marriage Pattern in England by raising pastoral wages and thus delaying female marriage. We show that this argument does not hold. There is no consensus that late female marriage emerged in rural England after the Black Death. Women wanting to do pastoral work in medieval England did not have to remain unmarried, so improved pastoral opportunities did not necessitate later marriage. Nor does the quantitative relationship between pastoralism and female marriage age in England provide support for this argument. Fertility restriction was not exogenously triggered by the Black Death.

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  • Jeremy Edwards & Sheilagh Ogilvie, 2022. "Did the Black Death cause economic development by ‘inventing’ fertility restriction? [Land use and management in the upland demesne of the De Lacy estate of Blackburnshire c. 1300]," Oxford Economic Papers, Oxford University Press, vol. 74(4), pages 1228-1246.
    • Handle: RePEc:oup:oxecpp:v:74:y:2022:i:4:p:1228-1246.
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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1093/oep/gpaa056
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    3. Le Bris, David & Tallec, Ronan, 2021. "The European Marriage Pattern and its Positive Consequences Montesquieu-Volvestre, 1660-1789," MPRA Paper 105324, University Library of Munich, Germany.
    4. David Bris & Ronan Tallec, 2023. "The European marriage pattern and the sensitivity of female age at marriage to economic context. Montesquieu-Volvestre, 1660–1789," Cliometrica, Springer;Cliometric Society (Association Francaise de Cliométrie), vol. 17(2), pages 187-231, May.

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    More about this item

    JEL classification:

    • E02 - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics - - General - - - Institutions and the Macroeconomy
    • J12 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Marriage; Marital Dissolution; Family Structure
    • J13 - Labor and Demographic Economics - - Demographic Economics - - - Fertility; Family Planning; Child Care; Children; Youth
    • N13 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Industrial Structure; Growth; Fluctuations - - - Europe: Pre-1913
    • N33 - Economic History - - Labor and Consumers, Demography, Education, Health, Welfare, Income, Wealth, Religion, and Philanthropy - - - Europe: Pre-1913

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