Video:
Audio:
Recommended Reading:
- Powerpoint presentation
- Mark Overton’s The Agricultural Revolution in England: The Transformation of the Agrarian Economy is a decent overview of the topic covered in this lecture.
- Much of the scholarly literature on enclosure is produced by socialists who advance the thesis that everyone got along just fine when villages had commons, and that capitalists destroyed their “sustainable” way of life via enclosure. An example of this scholarship is the award-winning Commoners by J.M. Neeson. For a corrective to this line of reasoning, see F.A. Hayek’s Capitalism and the Historians or Art Carden’s short article “The Myths of Capitalism’s History.”
18th Century Economy and Society – Quiz
- In the traditional economy, rudimentary crop rotation was practiced in the form of the “_____________” system and the “______________” system.
- In the early modern period, many landlords were squeezed by ______________ and could not raise rents.
- The practice of _______________ involved the fencing off of commons and renting them out to peasants with capital.
- The methods of intensive cultivation adopted in England in the 18th century are collectively known as _______ farming.
- Identify at least three techniques that helped to boost crop yields in England in the 18th century.
- When access to the commons was cut off, many peasants turned to _______________ to supplement their incomes.
- Explain the basics of the “putting-out” system as practiced before the Industrial Revolution.
- two-field; three-field
- inflation
- enclosure
- high
- more sophisticated crop rotation; convertible husbandry; seed drilling; use of scythe; improved plowing
- household manufacturing
- merchant capitalist puts out raw materials to households; pays by the piece for manufactured goods