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The waning of the little ice age

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  • Morgan Kelly
  • Cormac Ó Gráda

Abstract

The ramifications of the Little Ice Age, a period of cooling temperatures straddling several centuries in northwestern Europe, reach far beyond meteorology into economic, political, and cultural history. The LIA has spawned a series of resonant images that range from frost fairs to contracting glaciers, and from disappearing vineyards to disappearing Viking colonies. This paper takes issue with these images, and argues that the phenomena they describe can be explained without resort to climate change.

Suggested Citation

  • Morgan Kelly & Cormac Ó Gráda, 2012. "The waning of the little ice age," Working Papers 201211, School of Economics, University College Dublin.
    • Handle: RePEc:ucn:wpaper:201211
    as

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    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10197/3722
    File Function: First version, 2012
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    References listed on IDEAS

    as
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    More about this item

    Keywords

    Climate; Global warming; Little Ice Age; Europe--Climate--History; Climatic changes--Europe--History; Climate and civilization--Europe;
    All these keywords.

    JEL classification:

    • N50 - Economic History - - Agriculture, Natural Resources, Environment and Extractive Industries - - - General, International, or Comparative
    • Q54 - Agricultural and Natural Resource Economics; Environmental and Ecological Economics - - Environmental Economics - - - Climate; Natural Disasters and their Management; Global Warming

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