Occupational structure in the Czech lands under the second serfdom

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of occupational structure, a key component of the 'Little Divergence', in an eastern-central European economy under the second serfdom, using data on 6,983 Bohemian villages in 1654. Non-agricultural activity was lower than in western Europe, but varied positively with village size, pastoral agriculture, sub-peasant strata, Jews, freemen, female headship, and mills, and negatively with arable agriculture and towns. It showed a curvilinear relationship with the 'second serfdom', as proxied by landlord presence on village holdings. Landlord presence in serf villages also reversed the positive effects of female headship and mills on non-agricultural activities. Under the second serfdom, landlords encouraged serf activities from which they could extract rents, while stifling others which threatened manorial interests.

Does the European Marriage Pattern Explain Economic Growth?

“… 7 On pre-Emancipation Bohemia, see Ogilvie 2001; Klein and Ogilvie 2013. After serf emancipation in 1781, the Bohemian economy grew much faster, by 1820 attaining estimated per capital GDP of 1990$849, less than half that of England, and only just over the estimated 1990$819 for Sweden, the poorest country in Figure 1; available online at . …”

Has Eastern Europe Always Lagged Behind the West? Historical Evidence from Pre‐1870

“…Recently, a number of authors have complemented these qualitative and theoretical investigations with quantitative analysis. Klein and Ogilvie (2016), analyzing a dataset covering 7,000 villages in mid‐17th century Bohemia, established that serfdom discouraged rural non‐agricultural activities of peasants. The two authors demonstrate that, even though landlords might have stimulated some demand for non‐agricultural goods and services, they tended to crowd out serf crafts and commerce by siphoning off labor and stifling enterprise through surveillance and rent extraction.…”

The Economic Impact of the Black Death

“…We have noted that one striking consequence of the Black Death was a gradual divergence in labor institutions between Western and Eastern Europe where serfdom was imposed, often for the first time, or strengthened, after 1500 and where it would remain in place until the 19th century (see Klein and Ogilvie, 2016;Ashraf et al, 2017). Prior to the Black Death, Western European agriculture was largely arable, focused on producing wheat and other grains.…”