Land rights, local financial development and industrial activity : evidence from Flanders (nineteenth-early twentieth century)

In this paper, we investigate the hypothesis that the economic divergence across Flemish localities between 1830 and 1910 is explained by the theory of Hernando de Soto. We hypothesize that the uniform land rights installed after the French revolution provided borrowers with an attractive form of collateral. Conditional on the presence of local financial development provided by a new government-owned bank this eased access to external finance and fostered industrial and commercial economic activity. Using primary historical data of about 1179 localities in Flanders, we find that the variation in the local value of land (collateral) and the variation in local financial development jointly explain a substantial amount of the variation in non-agricultural employment accumulated between 1830 and 1910. By 1910, industrial and commercial economic activity was more developed in localities where both early (1846) rural land prices were high and early (1880) local financial development was more pronounced, which is in line with the 'de Soto' hypothesis

A macroeconomic analysis of the land market in the count of Flanders and the duchy of Brabant. (fifteenth and sixteenth century)

The rise of factor markets during the transition from the middle ages into the early modern was of crucial importance for long term economic growth. The transmission of property through the market however remains understudied, especially in the Southern Low Countries. In this paper we construct a formal model to analyse the land market both at the regional and interregional level. We found that regional variations in land prices within Brabant and Flanders can for a large part be explained by differences in future net revenues. A similar economic rationality determined land prices at the local level. Further more, evidence showed that while short-term inter-temporal price fluctuations could occur, overall price levels in the fifteenth century were stable. During the sixteenth century however, deflated land prices rose markedly. While the former fluctuations were due to short-term shock, the persistent price rise in the latter period was caused by structural changes. Overall, our research yields two conclusions. First, economic rationality seemed to drive price formation on both the regional and interregional level. Second, the increased availability of credit from the late fifteenth century onwards consistently drove real prices upwards. Further research is necessary to find out whether credit was a push of pull factor in this respect

A macroeconomic analysis of the land market in the count of Flanders and the duchy of Brabant. (fifteenth and sixteenth century)

The rise of factor markets during the transition from the middle ages into the early modern was of crucial importance for long term economic growth. The transmission of property through the market however remains understudied, especially in the Southern Low Countries. In this paper we construct a formal model to analyse the land market both at the regional and interregional level. We found that regional variations in land prices within Brabant and Flanders can for a large part be explained by differences in future net revenues. A similar economic rationality determined land prices at the local level. Further more, evidence showed that while short-term inter-temporal price fluctuations could occur, overall price levels in the fifteenth century were stable. During the sixteenth century however, deflated land prices rose markedly. While the former fluctuations were due to short-term shock, the persistent price rise in the latter period was caused by structural changes. Overall, our research yields two conclusions. First, economic rationality seemed to drive price formation on both the regional and interregional level. Second, the increased availability of credit from the late fifteenth century onwards consistently drove real prices upwards. Further research is necessary to find out whether credit was a push of pull factor in this respect

The rural land market in early modern inland Flanders and Brabant : a long run perspective

The emergence of factor markets during the transition from the Middle Ages to the early modern period was of crucial importance for long-term economic development. Despite Flanders and Brabant being situated in one of the most densely urbanised regions within Europe at the time, the current historiographical debate lacks a quantitative analysis of the market for land in the late medieval and early modern Low Countries. This article focuses on the transmission of rural property in the southern Low Countries from the 1400s up until the end of the eighteenth century. Using time-series data on the rural land market for a selection of case studies within Inland Flanders and Brabant has enabled me to present a long-run analysis of the changes in the market value of land, the market activity and the overall nature of the rural peasant land market. My findings show a tendency towards fewer but larger holdings being transferred on the land market. The path-dependent nature of this process had a significant impact upon the changing proto-capitalistic nature of agriculture within the southern Low Countries. As per capita market activity declined and the average transfer size increased, the farmers' dependency on the lease market grew effectively speeding up the pauperisation processes in Inland Flanders

Neo-feudalism or pre-capitalism? Some methodological considerations on the peasant land market in Flanders and Brabant

The emergence of factor markets during the transition from the middle ages into the early modern period was of crucial importance for long-term economic development. The current historiographical debate however, lacks a quantitative analysis of the market for land in the (Southern) Low Countries, one of the most densely urbanized regions with a rural economy that, by all means, can be considered pre-capitalistic. This paper focuses on two methodological issues. First, I problematize the concept of property rights and its (mis)use in historical discourse. Rather than using the property rights as a conceptual basis, I propose usage rights, since this terminology is a far better fit for the economic and social reality of the Early Modern Low Countries. Second, I elaborate on the wide variety of sources that are available to historians to study the pre-modern land market. Combining the two elements, I subsequently embed the peasant land market within its larger socio- economic context