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The demand elasticity for wheat in the 14th to 18th centuries*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 April 2010

Rafael Barquín
Rafael Barquín
Affiliation:
UNEDa
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Abstract:

A very low demand elasticity for wheat –the so-called King's Law– is one of the most commonly accepted assumptions made by cliometricians. But there is little and contradictory evidence to contrast this. In fact, Robert Fogel's estimates confirm the hypothesis whereas Karl Gunnar Persson's reject it. The aim of this article is to shed new light into this debate through an improved version of Fogel's procedure, using price and production data for several Western European countries in the Premodern Age. The results confirm Persson's estimate.

Resumen:

Una muy baja elasticidad de la demanda de trigo –la llamada Ley de Kinges una de las suposiciones más aceptadas entre los cliómetras. Pero hay una escasa y contradictoria evidencia que la pruebe. Las estimaciones de Robert Fogel confirman la hipótesis; pero las de Karl Gunnar Persson la rechazan. El propósito de este artículo es resolver este debate a través de una versión mejorada del procedimiento de Fogel, con datos de precios y producción de varios países de Europa Occidental en las edades medieval y moderna. Los resultados confirman las estimaciones de Persson.

Keywords

elasticidaddemandatrigopreciosproducciónelasticitydemandwheatpricesproductionKing's law

JEL classification

N13: Europe: Pre-1913 N53: Europe: Pre-1913 N01: Development of the Discipline: Historiographical; Sources and Methods
Type
Artículos
Information
Revista de Historia Economica - Journal of Iberian and Latin American Economic History , Volume 23 , Issue 2 , September 2005 , pp. 241 - 267
Copyright
Copyright © Instituto Figuerola de Historia y Ciencias Sociales, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid 2005

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