El mercado de trabajo en la Andalucía latifundista del Antiguo Régimen: ¿Intervencionismo o contratación?

Almost all authors coincide in stating that the agricultural labour market under the Ancien Régime was liable to a solid participation on the part of the national and local authorities. Even though the legal and juridical texts of the time reveal such participation, a broad scope was also left for market regulation by means of agreements between the stakeholders, employers and labourers.. In Andalusia, these agreements often turned into employment contracts signed in the presence of notaries, who regulated the performing of different farming duties, with a particular emphasis on harvesting and particularly on reaping cereals. Analysing the accounts of the great farms of the time allows us to prove the enormous flexibility that the Andalusian agricultural labour market had during the Ancien Régime thanks to the aforementioned contracts.