This paper exploits microdata from parish registers in a rural Tuscan village to trace the relationship between experienced and expected child mortality on household fertility strategies. It turns out that spacing of births and hence completed fertility are not only linked to economic risks and...

This paper develops a new total factor productivity growth accounting formula in which output data are replaced by data on wages and prices and changes in income distribution. It is then applied to the two centuries between 1250 and 1450, drawing on the improved wage and price series recently...

A formula is developed that enables labour productivity ranking of regions with minimum access to data. Furthermore, a probability approach is chosen in the use of uncertain information. Results indicate a productivity gap in favour of 14th century Italy compared to England.

As a direct result of famine, in the 1840s Ireland lost one-fifth of its population through mortality and emigration. The loss makes the Irish famine, relatively speaking, one of the biggest on record. This paper examines its differential economic impact on groups such as landowners, farmers,...

We use data collected by the Cambridge Group to investigate and explain differences in fertility by socio-economic group in pre-industrial England. We find, in line with results presented by Greg Clark, that wealthier groups did indeed have higher fertility until the 1700s. We demonstrate that...

We advance the hypothesis that cultural values such as high work ethic and thrift, “the Protestant ethic” according to Max Weber, may have been diffused long before the Reformation, thereby importantly affecting the pre-industrial growth record. The source of pre-Reformation Protestant...

Religiosity affects everything from fertility and health to labor force participation and productivity. But why are some societies more religious than others? To answer this question, I rely on the religious coping theory, which states that many individuals draw on their religious beliefs to...

We examine the effect of increased demand for social insurance on church membership.Our empirical strategy exploits the differential impact of the Great Mississippi Flood of 1927 across counties to identify a shock to the demand for social insurance. We find that flooded counties experienced a...