Agrarian Fundamentalism and English Agricultural Development.

Journal article

The paper argues that Agrarian Fundamentalism--both of Tory and Marxist origin--provides an erroneous analysis of the development of British agriculture between 1500 and 1800. Referring to his earlier work, the author argues that: (a) enclosures make little contribution to productivity growth; (b) there was no correlation between farm size and yield; (c) enclosures and farm amalgamations reduced employment per acre, but the labour released was not successfully reemployed in manufacturing; (d) real agricultural prices rose in England between the late middle ages and the nineteenth century, thus increasing inequaltiy by reducing the real incomes of the poor relative to the rich.

Authors: Allen, R

• Journal: Rivista di Storia Economica, N.S
• Volume: 7
• Publication date: 1990-01-01
• Language: English