Pre-Industrial Economies: Resources, Population, and European Rise
Pre-Industrial Economies (2.1)
Resources and Population: Limits to Growth
Malthusian explanatory model on demography: Population growth is limited by available resources. When population exceeds resources, prices increase, leading to instability and theft. Diseases and limited medical progress cause population decline.
Natural model of population: Marriage and birth rates are influenced by space limitations. This favors cyclical population patterns. Population is measured by data and statistics. In the pre-industrial stage, average life expectancy is around 30, with marriage around 25. Singleness is common, and fewer children receive better care due to high child mortality. Birth rates must be high to offset low life expectancy. More males are born, but their mortality is higher. Spring marriages lead to winter births, and summer mortality follows similar disease patterns.
XVI-XVII Century: Growth and Crisis
Lack of knowledge transmission among young people hinders cultural development. This period is characterized by urban and feudal societies.
XVIII Century: New Demographic Order
Population grows steadily due to improved health, agriculture, and declining mortality. Life expectancy increases from 30 to 45 years. Boserup’s theory suggests that demography explains this growth.
Migration
Crises in the XVI and XVII centuries cause Europeans to migrate within and outside Europe due to disease, religion, and opportunities in America. In the XVIII century, external migration increases as other countries need restocking.
The Rise of Europe (2.2)
Europe’s prominence began in the sixteenth century, taking the lead by 1800. Medieval features and traditional primary sector dominance are present. Agriculture is undeveloped, with 2 or 3 plots including fallow land. England and Holland are exceptions due to their capitalist tendencies towards modernization. The primary sector is based on lordships, with land as the basic unit of production. Money gains importance over payment in kind. In the XVI century, a division occurs at the Elbe River. West of the river, farmers pay rent to lords, gaining more freedom. Netherlands has lordships, while England has capitalists. Community property declines as profit-seeking increases.
Manufacturing
Technology is not very advanced. There are three modes of production:
- Guilds: Urban associations of foremen and apprentices producing on request. Abolished after the French Revolution due to lack of progress.
- Domestic System: Common outside cities, with capitalists providing materials to families for production. This system includes advances and the Kauffsystem, where farmers contact employers for materials.
- Workshops: Venture capitalists invest in workshops with dozens of workers, producing high-end goods for the wealthy. Mendels suggests this process leads to workers moving near workshops, potentially starting industrialization.
Textiles
Wool is the primary textile, with new draperies using cheaper labor and crop processes. Linen is consumed moderately and exported. Silk is a luxury product, while cotton is found in the Arab world.
Metallurgy
Iron is traditionally worked in Ferreiras, with water wheels as the most advanced technique. Mining is rustic, with quarries in the north.
Market
Markets are isolated and underdeveloped due to poor roads and limited crops.