Working Paper: NBER ID: w14393
Authors: Dan Bogart; Gary Richardson
Abstract: A new database demonstrates that between 1600 and 1830, Parliament passed thousands of acts restructuring rights to real and equitable estates. These estate acts enabled individuals and families to sell, mortgage, lease, exchange, and improve land previously bound by landholding and inheritance laws. This essay provides a factual foundation for research on this important topic: the law and economics of property rights during the period preceding the Industrial Revolution. Tables present time-series, cross-sectional, and panel data that should serve as a foundation for empirical analysis. Preliminary analysis indicates ways in which this new evidence may shape our understanding of British economic and social history.
Keywords: No keywords provided
JEL Codes: K0; K11; N13; N43; P14; P16; P26
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| Estate acts (D14) | Reduced transaction costs (D23) |
| Reduced transaction costs (D23) | Resource reallocation to new and more productive uses (O39) |
| Estate acts (D14) | Activities such as selling or leasing land (R33) |
| Estate acts (D14) | Urbanization (R11) |
| Estate acts (D14) | Industrialization (O14) |
| Urbanization (R11) | Increased economic activity (F69) |
| Industrialization (O14) | Increased economic activity (F69) |