Institutions and Demographic Responses to Shocks: Württemberg, 1634-1870

Timothy Guinnane and Sheilagh Ogilvie

Working Papers from Economic Growth Center, Yale University

Abstract: Simple Malthusian models remain an important tool for understanding pre-modern demographic systems and their connection to the economy. But most recent literature has lost sight of the institutional context for demographic behavior that lay at the heart of Malthus’s own analysis. This paper estimates a short-run version of a Malthusian model for two Württemberg communities from 1646 to 1870. Württemberg differed institutionally from the northwest European societies analyzed in previous studies. The impact of institutional differences shows clearly in differing demographic reactions to economic shocks. Mortality was less sensitive to shocks than one would expect, while nuptiality was especially sensitive.

Keywords: Malthusian models; mortality; fertility; nuptiality; guilds (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J10 N33 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 62 pages
Date: 2008-03
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (16)

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Related works:
Working Paper: Institutions and Demographic Responses to Shocks: Wuttemberg, 1634-1870 (2008)
Working Paper: Institutions and Demographic Responses to Shocks: Wurttemberg, 1634-1870 (2008)
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Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:egc:wpaper:962

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