Data for: The heavy plow and the agricultural revolution in Medieval Europe

Abstract of associated article: This research sheds new light on the much-debated link between agricultural productivity and development. We do so by estimating the causal impact of a large shock to agricultural productivity—the introduction of the heavy plow in the Middle Ages—on long run development. We build on the work of Lynn White, Jr. (1962), who argued that it was impossible to take proper advantage of the fertile clay soils of Northern Europe prior to the invention and widespread adoption of the heavy plow. We implement the test in a difference-in-difference set-up by exploiting regional variation in the presence of fertile clay soils. Using a high quality dataset for Denmark, we find that historical counties with relatively more fertile clay soil experienced higher urbanization after the heavy plow had its breakthrough, which was around AD 1000. We obtain a similar result, when we extend the test to European regions. Our findings substantiate that agricultural productivity can be an important driver of long-run development.

关联文章摘要：本研究为农业生产率与经济发展之间广受争议的关联提供了全新阐释。我们通过评估中世纪重型犁具（heavy plow）的引入——这一给农业生产率带来重大冲击的事件——对长期经济发展的因果影响，开展此项研究。本研究借鉴小林恩·怀特（Lynn White, Jr.，1962）的研究成果，后者曾提出，在重型犁具发明并广泛推广之前，人类无法充分利用北欧肥沃的黏质土壤。我们借助不同区域间肥沃黏质土壤的分布差异，采用双重差分（difference-in-difference）研究设计开展实证检验。基于高质量的丹麦历史县域数据集，我们发现，在公元1000年左右重型犁具实现普及之后，拥有更多肥沃黏质土壤的历史县域出现了更高水平的城市化。当我们将检验范围拓展至整个欧洲地区时，得到了一致的研究结论。本研究证实，农业生产率可以成为长期经济发展的重要驱动因素。