Where is the Backward Peasant? Regional Crop Yields on Common and Private Land in Russia 1883-1913

Michael Kopsidis (), Katja Bruisch () and Daniel Bromley
Additional contact information
Katja Bruisch: German Historical Institute Moscow (DHI Moskau)

No 46, Working Papers from European Historical Economics Society (EHES)

Abstract: This paper deals with agricultural dynamics in late-Imperial Russia. Based upon a comprehensive micro-level data set on annual yields between 1883 and 1913, we provide insight into regional differences of agricultural growth and the development prospects of Russian agriculture before WWI. Making use of the fact that— unique in Europe— contemporary Russian statistics distinguished between “privately owned” and mostly communally governed “peasant” land, we are able to test the implications of different landtenure systems for agricultural growth. In a broader sense we will challenge the stereotype of the “backward” peasant and the common narrative of Russia as an exception to the pan-European picture of economic development during the era of industrialization.

Keywords: Russia; land productivity; peasant communal agriculture; land tenure (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N53 O13 Q15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 60 pages
Date: 2013-09
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-agr, nep-cis, nep-cwa, nep-eff and nep-his
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
https://ehes.org/wp/EHES_No46.pdf (application/pdf)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:hes:wpaper:0046

Access Statistics for this paper

More papers in Working Papers from European Historical Economics Society (EHES) Contact information at EDIRC.
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Paul Sharp ().