English Agrarian Labor Productivity Rates Before the Black Death: A Case Study

It is often suggested that an agricultural revolution, currently defined as a rise in the output of arable workers, was a necessary precursor to industrialization and improved living standards. This article provides the first direct measurement of arable workers' average labor productivity for pre-industrial England. Rates are assessed for those production conditions that it is thought resulted in the lowest agrarian labor productivity rates in the pre-industrial period: c.1300-1348. The rates for English workers before the Black Death either surpassed or met the literature's best estimates for English workers until 1800, well after industrialization was underway. evelopment economists' debate over whether population growth hinders or promotes growth in poor countries is echoed among economic historians interested in pre-industrial Europe.' A key issue is whether the productivity of agrarian labor is and was low, thus acting as a potential barrier to development. It is often suggested that the western European nations, who were the first to industrialize in the nineteenth century, overcame this barrier through an agricultural revolution, which dramatically raised output of food per worker. This freed product and producers for new sectors, permitting industrialization; fostered economic growth; and eventually raised living