Inferring Yields from Probate Inventories

B-Tier
Journal: Journal of Economic History
Year: 1988
Volume: 48
Issue: 1
Pages: 117-125

Score contribution per author:

2.011 = (α=2.01 / 1 authors) × 1.0x B-tier

α: calibrated so average coauthorship-adjusted count equals average raw count

Abstract

An improvement on Mark Overton's method of computing crop yields from probate inventories is proposed. Harvesting costs are explicitly allowed for and a new procedure for eliminating cost-of-production valuations is offered. Applying these methods to a sample of Oxfordshire probate inventories generates higher yields than Overton's investigation of East Anglian inventories. The finding lends support to the view that most of the yield increase in early modern England occurred in the seventeenth century rather than the eighteenth.

Technical Details

RePEc Handle
repec:cup:jechis:v:48:y:1988:i:01:p:117-125_00
Journal Field
Economic History
Author Count
1
Added to Database
2026-01-24