The Failure of Agrarian Capitalism: Agrarian Politics in the UK, Germany, the Netherlands and the USA, 1846-1919

by Koning; Niek

• ISBN13: 9780415114318
• ISBN10: 0415114314
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1994-12-13
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

In 1992, a trade war nearly developed between the French and the Americans over the French government's rape seed subsidy. The US responded with threats of slapping heafty duties on Frenchvin blanc. Each year promises yet another round of arguments, threats, and economic repisals. InThe Failure of Agrarian Capitalism, Dutch economist Niek Koning examines the economic origins of such forms of intervention. He scrutinizes attempts to reform farming policy in the latest round of GATT talks; and provides an incisive and comparative analysis of the agrarian politics in England, Germany, the Netherlands and the US from 1846-1919. He places an astute emphasis on legislation and argues that this period was crucial in robbing the agricultural sector of a market-oriented autonomy, eventually spawning the seeds of this conflict.

Table of Contents

List of figures
List of tables
Preface and acknowledgements
Introduction	p. 1
Agricultural price support and the social scientists	p. 1
Plan and method of the study	p. 5
Agrarian Capitalism: Growth and Miscarriage	p. 11
Agricultural markets in the age of the first Industrial Revolution	p. 11
Growth of agrarian capitalism	p. 14
Changes in the age of the second Industrial Revolution	p. 19
Decline of large farms	p. 25
Effects on the demand for farm policies	p. 29
Agrarian politics and the general political evolution	p. 37
Mid-1840s to c. 1873: The Liberal Years	p. 40
Agricultural growth in the Railway Age	p. 40
Farm structures and technical progress	p. 43
Liberalizing tendency in farm policies	p. 50
Wealth-controlling rural classes and the liberalization of agricultural trade	p. 56
Institutional bases of farm progress	p. 59
Few reasons for indulgence with small farmers and farm labourers	p. 62
Agrarian capitalism and the rise of classical liberalism	p. 65
c. 1873 to Late 1890s: The Watershed	p. 71
Agriculture and the 'Great Depression'	p. 71
Repercussions on farm output and productivity	p. 74
Set-back for large farms	p. 81
Government intervention along diverging paths	p. 84
United States, the Netherlands and the blessings of comparative advantage	p. 90
United Kingdom, Germany and the determinants of free trade or protection	p. 96
Bourgeois fears, defence of ground rents, and the turn to land reform	p. 103
Agricultural crisis and the decline of liberalism	p. 107
Late 1890s to the First World War: Agriculture and National Efficiency	p. 113
Economic expansion and revival of agricultural markets	p. 113
Evolution of farm structures	p. 114
Farm output and productivity	p. 121
Government and the beginnings of agricultural Taylorism	p. 127
Increase in land reform	p. 131
Delay in social policies for farm labourers	p. 135
Agricultural trade policies: the United States and the Netherlands	p. 137
Tariff question in the United Kingdom and Germany: the struggle over national destiny	p. 139
Ambiguities of agrarian corporatism	p. 144
Swan song of the Old Regime	p. 146
The First World War and Beyond	p. 154
Introductory remarks	p. 154
Agriculture and food supply during the war	p. 155
After-effects	p. 162
Discussion	p. 167
Recapitulation	p. 167
Neo-classical economics and the landlord-blame view	p. 169
Landlord political power: need for reconsidering?	p. 174
Appendix: Statistical data on agricultural development in the United Kingdom, Germany, the Netherlands and the United States, 1850-1913	p. 177
Notes	p. 188
References	p. 241
Index	p. 278
Table of Contents provided by Blackwell. All Rights Reserved.