Resistance to commodification: farmland prices and rents in Sweden, 1274–1649

Abstract

Long historical series of farmland prices and rents are rare, especially for the pre-industrial era. This article makes two contributions: (1) series of land prices and rents are presented for a peripheral economy of the time, East Sweden, in the period 1274–1649. Phases of decline and growth are compared to those of some other European regions; (2) the effects of certain anti-capitalist institutions on farmland prices are explored. An unanticipated trait of the Swedish series is that land prices declined during most of the sixteenth century, despite resurging population growth. Regulations aimed at counteracting the commodification of land were in effect during this period, exerting a downward pressure on prices.

Keywords:

• medieval economic history
• land price
• rent
• agrarian economy
• Sweden

JEL Classification:

• N13
• N53

Acknowledgements

Thanks to Göran Dahlbäck, Rodney Edvinsson, Alf Ericsson, Bo Franzén, Olof Karsvall and Janken Myrdal for their help in various stages of the work. Research has been funded by Stockholm University, The Swedish Research Council and by Jan Wallanders och Tom Hedelius stiftelse, Handelsbanken.

Notes

¹ Upplandslagen (1933), 130.

²In reality the weight of the silver mark was lower than that. A recent estimate puts it at 197 grams in 1300 and 188 grams in 1500; Edvinsson et al., ‘Swedish Payment’ (2010), 110–2.

³Towards the end of the sixteenth century another kind of öresland with a fixed area was introduced; Dovring, De stående skatterna (1951), 131–2. This unit, also known as the geometric öresland, is not used in this study.

⁴Lönnroth, Statsmakt (1940), 104.

⁵Franzén, Folkungatidens (2006).

⁶Lönnroth, Statsmakt (1940); Dovring, Attungen (1947).

⁷Myrdal, Digerdöden (2003), 202, 248.

⁸Clark, ‘Land Rental’ (2002), 281–3.

⁹Dovring, Attungen (1947), 31; Tollin, ‘Från avkastning’ (2008), 146–7.

¹⁰The CPI has been constructed in the Riksbank project, Historical Monetary Statistics of Sweden 1668–2008, www.riksbank.se/en/Research/Historical-Monetary-Statistics-/Prices/.

¹¹Flynn, ‘Comparing’ (1997), 338–40.

¹²Abel, Agricultural (1980), 126–30.

¹³Dovring, De stående (1951), 155–90.

¹⁴Clark, Farewell (2007), 274; see also Allen, Enclosure (1992), 286.

¹⁵Clark, Farewell (2007), 274; Clark, Microbes and markets (2001a), 25.

¹⁶Sandnes, ‘Priser’ (1978), 148; Lunden, ‘Epoch’ (2004), 150, 217.

¹⁷Rents of 5–8% of the land price are also typical of the holdings purchased by Uppsala Cathedral during the fifteenth century; Dahlbäck, ‘Jord’ (1981), 72.

¹⁸Allen, ‘Price’ (1988), 43.

¹⁹A comparison with Clark's data for the period 1480–1649 yields similar results. Clark, ‘Land Rental’ (2002), 297.

²⁰Bowden, Chapters (1990), 110–5.

²¹Hoffman, ‘Land Rents’ (1991), 775. Conversion from livres tournois to silver is based on Allen–Unger Global Commodity Prices Database, Currency Data sets, Tours Livre_Currency.xls.

²² Upplandslagen (1933), 130; Lönnroth, Statsmakt (1940), 87, 102.

²³Sandnes, ‘Priser’ (1978); Lunden, ‘Epoch’ (2004), 150–1.

²⁴For conversion from livres tournois to silver see note 21 above.

²⁵Bois, Crisis (1984), 219–26.

²⁶Andræ, ‘Studier’ (1965), 405–6.

²⁷E.g., Dyer, Lords (1980), 100–01; Duby, Rural (1968), 238; Bois, Crisis (1984), 218–9.

²⁸Arnell, Bidrag (1904), Appendix I, 17.

²⁹Bowden, Chapters (1990), 102.

³⁰Lönnroth, Statsmakt (1940), 104–5.

³¹Clark, 'Land Rental’ (2002), 289.

³²Hoffman, ‘Land Rents’ (1991), 799.

³³Myrdal, ‘Scandinavia’ (2012), 227.

³⁴Ågren, Domestic (2009), 28.

³⁵Karlsson, ed. (1907),Upplands, 21.

³⁶Winberg, Grenverket (1985), 135.

³⁷Winberg, Grenverket (1985), 211–2.

³⁸Winberg, Grenverket (1985), 95.

³⁹E.g., Clark, ‘Land Rental’ (2002); O'Rourke et al., ‘From Malthus’ (2005).

⁴⁰Malanima, Pre-Modern (2009), 265; England: Clark, Land Rental (2001b), 27; Clark, ‘Land Rental’ (2002), 297. Data for the Paris Basin and Holland refer to the periods 1500-10 and 1600-10, respectively.

⁴¹Dyer, Making (2002), 294–5.

⁴²Campbell, English (2000), 10.

⁴³Dahlbäck, Uppsala domkyrkas (1977), 284, 298, 312.

⁴⁴For trends in various European regions see Abel, Agricultural (1980), 27–8, 74–7.

⁴⁵Bois, Crisis (1984); for England see Clark, Farewell (2007), 274; for Denmark see Petersen, ‘Jordprisforhold’ (1966), 222–6.

⁴⁶Lönnroth, Statsmakt (1940), 205; Myrdal, ‘Scandinavia’ (2012), 213–4, 226.

⁴⁷Abel, Agricultural (1980), 129–30.

⁴⁸Calculation based on wage data in Pihl, Arbete (2012), 196.

⁴⁹Myrdal, ‘Scandinavia’ (2012), 213–4, 235.