Mats Olsson

Head of the Department of Economic History, Professor

Estimating agricultural production in Scania, 1702–1881 : User guide for the Historical Database of Scanian Agriculture and overall results

Author

Mats Olsson
Patrick Svensson

Summary, in English

The Historical Database of Scanian Agriculture (HDSA) is a micro-level database over farm production in the most southern Swedish region of Scania (Skåne) based on flexible tithes. It contains over 85,000 farm level observations of both vegetable and animal production for the period 1702 to 1881. Moreover, this information is supplemented by information on the farmer, the farm, on enclosures, natural conditions, and distances from the farmstead to towns. The database is an open source and this paper provides information on the sources behind the data, the composition of the sample, and the way the database can be used to estimate production. The second part of the paper performs an overall analysis of the agricultural revolution in the area, showing the development over time of the vegetable and animal production, their respective significance, and an estimation of production per capita 1702 to 1865.

Department/s