Standards of living and capital formation in pre-plague England: a peasant budget model

This article reconstructs the annual budget of a hypothetical English peasant farmer before the Black Death. On the revenues side, it accounts for the income forthcoming from grains and animal products, and the cash revenue from wage earning. On the expenditures side, it provides estimates for the level of seigneurial dues, the purchase of extra consumption goods, and the financing of the investment bill. As a result of emphasis on the ability of farmers to adopt technologies necessary to reach a minimum standard of efficiency, the article concludes by revising upwards to 18 acres some previous estimates that sought to define the necessary minimum size of holding from the perspective of mere physical subsistence.