The Isolated Peasant. Long-term Growth in Demand and Spatial Patterns of Agricultural Supply in Southern Sweden, 1702-1857

Abstract: Previous research has found clear spatial patterns of agricultural supply, both in pre-industrial Europe (Grantham 1978; Grantham 1989; Kopsidis 2009) and in the less developed countries of today (Benziger 1996; Stifel & Minten 2008). The spatial structure of farming intensity is mainly attributed to the declining net-returns with the distance from the market. This paper examines the impact of distance on agricultural productivity and whether the long-term growth in demand had a diminishing impact on the spatial variation in farming intensity. The analysis is carried out by using a database on estimates of agricultural production on the micro-level together with additional information on distance from a map from the 19th century for about 2200 farm households in the province of Scania in southern Sweden during the period 1702-1857. The effect of distance on agricultural production is studied with a general least square regression (GLS) for the time periods 1702-1775, 1776-1825 and 1826-1857. The results demonstrate a distinct spatial variation in farming intensity in southern Sweden. Further, the findings also show that the spatial patterns of agricultural supply even increased over time, despite a considerable growth in demand. Overall, the results indicate that increasing demand in itself was not a sufficient pre-condition for reducing the spatial variation in farming intensity.