Template-type: ReDIF-Paper 1.0
Author-Name: Elaine Tan
Author-Workplace-Name: Nuffield College, Oxford
Title: "The Bull is Half the Herd": Property Rights and Enclosures in England, 1750-1850
Abstract: This paper proposes that one function of the open fields was to reduce the transaction costs of cow-keeping by lowering commoners’ costs of bulling. At enclosure, cow-keeping fell among small owners who, unlike large farmers, had difficulty obtaining bulling services and were not substantial enough to own both the bull and the cow; they were therefore worse off with enclosures. The minimum acreage required to restore cow keepers to their pre-enclosure economic position indicates that even commoners who were given some land at settlement lost out with the change in property rights.
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Length: 32 pages
Creation-Date: 2002-06-01
Number: _046
File-URL: http://www.economics.ox.ac.uk/materials/papers/2282/46tan.pdf
File-Format: application/pdf
Handle: RePEc:nuf:esohwp:_046