Sharecropping and Investment in Agriculture in Early Modern France
Paper Number:
406
Date:
10/01/1981
Abstract:
This paper examines the wave of investment in agriculture in 16th and 17th century France, a movement with parallels throughout western Europe. After dismissing the explanations advanced by most historians, I argue that the investment in agriculture resulted from royal tax policy. I then consider the predilection investors showed for sharecropping and suggest that this predilection can be explained in light of modern economic theories of share contracts.
Paper Length:
21
Paper:
sswp406_DW5A7q1.pdf