Philip Hoffman shatters the widespread myth that traditional
agricultural societies in early modern Europe were socially and
economically stagnant and ultimately dependent on wide-scale
political revolution for their growth. Through a richly detailed
historical investigation of the peasant agriculture of
"ancien-regime" France, the author uncovers evidence that requires
a new understanding of what constituted economic growth in such
societies. His arguments rest on a measurement of long-term growth
that enables him to analyze the economic, institutional, and
political factors that explain its forms and rhythms. In comparing
France with England and Germany, Hoffman arrives at fresh answers
to some classic questions: Did French agriculture lag behind
farming in other countries? If so, did the obstacles in French
agriculture lurk within peasant society itself, in the peasants'
culture, in their communal property rights, or in the small scale
of their farms? Or did the obstacles hide elsewhere, in politics,
in the tax system, or in meager opportunities for trade? The author
discovers that growth cannot be explained by culture, property
rights, or farm size, and argues that the real causes of growth
derived from politics and gains from trade. By challenging other
widely held beliefs, such as the nature of the commons and the
workings of the rural economy, Hoffman offers a new analysis of
peasant society and culture, one based on microeconomics and game
theory and intended for a wide range of social scientists."
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