A newer version of this project is available. See below for other available versions.

The Response of Fertility to Price Changes in a Manorial Society: The Case of Rural Estonia, 1834–1884

Principal Investigator(s):  View help for Principal Investigator(s) Martin Klesment, Tallinn University; Kersti Lust, Tallinn University

Version:  View help for Version V1

Name File Type Size Last Modified
data_214441.dta application/x-stata-dta 1.2 MB 12/30/2024 03:27:AM
estimation_graphs_214441.R text/x-rsrc 1.9 KB 12/30/2024 01:30:AM
preds_interaction_214441.csv text/csv 2.1 KB 12/30/2024 03:05:AM
preds_quarters_214441.csv text/csv 1.2 KB 09/21/2023 09:24:PM
preparation_and_estimation_214441.do text/plain 8.1 KB 09/24/2023 03:30:AM

Project Citation: 

Klesment, Martin, and Lust, Kersti. The Response of Fertility to Price Changes in a Manorial Society: The Case of Rural Estonia, 1834–1884. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2024-12-30. https://doi.org/10.3886/E214441V1

Project Description

Summary:  View help for Summary Using pre-industrial rural Estonia as an example, the article studies fertility response to short-term economic stress in a manorial society in eastern Europe. It considers whether the fertility response to rye price fluctuations was deliberate and whether it was socially differentiated. It appears that an increase in the price of rye resulted in the drop of conceptions within the next year and the magnitude of the impact on fertility was roughly similar to that in several other European settings in the 19th century. As long as the manorial system was maintained, farmers were more sensitive to price hikes than the landless, but with the decline of the mutual economic dependence between manors and farms, the landless laborers became more vulnerable to price increases. Our analysis of the timing of the fertility response reveals no deliberate postponement of conceptions immediately before or after the low harvests or price increases. Instead, conceptions dropped only in the spring and summer season of the next year, indicating a non-deliberate and spontaneous response.
Funding Sources:  View help for Funding Sources Estonian Research Council (PSG669)

Scope of Project

Subject Terms:  View help for Subject Terms fertility; economic stress; Eastern Europe; socioeconomic status
Geographic Coverage:  View help for Geographic Coverage Estonia
Time Period(s):  View help for Time Period(s) 1834 – 1884 (19th century)
Universe:  View help for Universe Rural population, births (parity 2-10) to mothers aged 15-45, different socio-economic groups. 
Data Type(s):  View help for Data Type(s) event/transaction data

Methodology

Unit(s) of Observation:  View help for Unit(s) of Observation individuals

Related Publications

Download this project

Published Versions

V2 [2024-12-30]

V1 [2024-12-30]

Export Metadata

Dublin Core

DDI 2.5

Report a Problem

Found a serious problem with the data, such as disclosure risk or copyrighted content? Let us know.

This material is distributed exactly as it arrived from the data depositor. ICPSR has not checked or processed this material. Users should consult the investigator(s) if further information is desired.