Land Markets and Inequality: Evidence from Medieval England

Cliff Bekar () and Clyde Reed ()
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Cliff Bekar: Lewis and Clark College, http://college.lclark.edu/faculty/members/clifford_bekar/
Clyde Reed: Simon Fraser University, http://www.sfu.ca/~reed/

Discussion Papers from Department of Economics, Simon Fraser University

Abstract: The 13th century witnessed a substantial increase in inequality in the distribution of peasant landholdings relative to the distribution of the late 11th century. Innovations in property rights over land in 12th century England induced peasants to include the trading of small parcels of land as part of their risk coping strategy. We argue that these events are related. Recent theoretical work in development economics has explored the relationship between inequality and asset markets. When agents are able to trade productive assets to manage risk, the resulting dynamics may generate increasing inequality over time. We employ a simulation strategy to analyze the impact of land markets in generating inequality in 13th century landholdings. We find that the dominant factor contributing to the unequal distribution of land was the interaction between emerging land markets and population growth driven by high fertility rates in households with large landholdings.

Keywords: Economic History; Land Market; Hundred Rolls; Domesday; inequality; risk; poverty; asset markets; simulation analysis; economic development (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: J11 N23 N53 O15 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Pages: 27
Date: 2012-05
New Economics Papers: this item is included in nep-his
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

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