Assessing agricultural adaptation to changing climatic conditions during the English agricultural revolution (1645–1740)

José Luis Martínez-González ()
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José Luis Martínez-González: Facultat d’Economia i Empresa, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, Cerdanyola del Vallès, Spain ; Faculty of Economics and Business, University of Barcelona, Barcelona, Spain

Cliometrica, Journal of Historical Economics and Econometric History, 2025, vol. 19, issue 1, 163-193

Abstract: This article examines the impact of climatic variability on the English Agricultural Revolution using Allen’s Nitrogen Hypothesis. While half of the variation in yields can be attributed to nitrogen-fxing plants, better cultivation, and improved seeds, the remainder can be attributed to changing climatic conditions during the relatively cold period from c. 1645–1715 and the subsequent warmer phase. The study fnds that farmers made even greater eforts than observed yields during the colder and more humid climate of the second half of the seventeenth century and the early eighteenth. Conversely, increasing temperatures in the following period had a positive efect on agricultural productivity, indicating that farmers’ role during this phase have been overrated.

Keywords: Agricultural; revolution; ·; England; ·; Climate; ·; Nitrogen; ·; Seventeenth; century (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: N53 O13 Q10 Q54 Q55 Q57 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2025
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:afc:cliome:v:19:y:2025:i:1:p:163-193

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