Abstract
Denmark, New Zealand and Uruguay enjoyed a virtuous integration into the world economy during the First Globalization era (1870–1913), as small, peripheral and export-oriented countries with abundant natural resources for producing and exporting goods derived from livestock rearing. Despite these similarities, the three countries experienced different trajectories in terms of income per capita. This chapter examines, from a comparative perspective, to what extent the processes of configuration of the property structure and land tenure explained the differences in income distribution in the agrarian sector and hence the economic performance of the three countries during the period 1870 to 1930. The main results show that Denmark had a relatively egalitarian ownership structure, which translated into widespread income growth on account of growing export receipts to a greater portion of society. In New Zealand, the distribution and tenure structure of land allowed a reduction in the extent of large estates, the expansion of medium-sized farms, and the distribution of agrarian income among small and medium-sized producers. Finally, in Uruguay, the domestic institutions associated with the land ownership structure consolidated large estates as the main productive unit and the agrarian income was concentrated mainly among the landowners.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
This system—also known as the “compulsory residence system” (Skrubbeltrang, 1961)—emerged in 1733 and limited the movement of men in the countryside, guaranteeing military recruitment. However, the main aim was to maintain the required labour force in the manor’s farms (Skrubbeltrang, 1961, Sharp & Lampe, 2019).
- 3.
Husmænd makes reference to small-holders whose production is less than 1 Tdr. Hartkorn, and hence its productivity was below what was considered the sustainable size for a family farm (Henriksen, 2008).
- 4.
The conditions of the 1899 law would be partially modified in 1909 under the Venstre government: the size of properties would be expanded and loans would be increased (Henriksen, 2008).
- 5.
Between 1662 and 1903, “Tønde hartkorn” represented a measure of the taxable value of land and its quality that fit the area of each parcel. Very fertile land could therefore reach 1 Tønde hartkorn in a very small area, while land that was less fertile would require a larger area (Lampe & Sharp, 2019). Tønder of Hartkorn (1 Tdr. Hrtk) is on average for the whole of Denmark 18.0 tønde of land (Td. Ld) which is approximately 10 hectares (Danmarks Statistik, 1908: 40, Table 38).
- 6.
The treaty was signed on 6 February 1840 by 43 Māori chiefs from Northland, and in the subsequent eight months nearly 500 Māori chiefs from all over the country signed it. According to recent estimates, the Māori population amounted to some 70,000 and the European population amounted to some 2000 in 1840 when the Treaty of Waitangi was signed (Belich, 1996: 178, 193).
- 7.
Batlle y Ordoñez was president in two constitutional periods (1903–1907 and 1911–1915). In the gap between 1907 and 1911, the president was Claudio Williman, an ex-minister in the Batlle administration, who continued with the same policies.
- 8.
This is a type of traditional land tenure in which the land is occupied by tenant farms but the property is owned by the manor.
- 9.
More information on the estimates is available in the Appendix in the end of this chapter.
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Appendix: Sources for Data
Appendix: Sources for Data
We present the general data sources, assumptions and methodological options for the functional income distribution estimates.
1.1 Agrarian GDP
Denmark
To estimate Danish agrarian GDP, we consider the Gross Domestic Product in million kroner at factor cost (in current prices) according to Mitchell (1998). We use the agricultural share of the GDP at factor cost estimated from Hansen (1984: 229–234 and 238–243) extracted from Henriksen (2008: 140–141) to calculate the agrarian product in current prices.
New Zealand and Uruguay
Data extracted from (Álvarez, 2008) and updates (Álvarez & Willebald, 2013; Álvarez, 2014).
1.2 Wages
Denmark
We have to estimate the wage mass in the agrarian sector, which is understood as the number of wage-earners multiplied by the annual salary in current prices in the agrarian sector. We obtain the wage per kroner per day from rural labourer (male and female) from Khaustova and Sharp (2015) for the period 1870–1913. For the agricultural wage series construction, the authors use Pedersen’s (1930) estimates for the period between 1859 and 1913 for the municipality of Fladså. We assume that the number of days of employment was 25 days per month. For the 1870–1913 period, we use Hansen’s (1984) estimates of the number of labourers in the agricultural sector “defined as working men and woman aged from fifteen to sixty-four according to the censuses and with interpolation between the census years” (footnote Henriksen, 2008: 136). Therefore, to calculate annual wages we assume that the rural wage in the economy is the simple average of the male and female wages. To cover the period 1914–1930, we first calculate the agricultural salary for the year 1914 assuming that the growth rate between 1913 and 1914 was the same as the industrial nominal wages provided by Greasley (2006). We then use the nominal index from Kærgård (1991) extracted from Henriksen (2008: 136) estimated for wage-earners in agriculture and for self-employed with wives in agriculture to calculate the salary mass for the remaining years.
New Zealand and Uruguay
Data extracted from (Álvarez, 2008) and updates (Álvarez & Willebald, 2013; Álvarez, 2014).
1.3 Rents
Denmark
We obtain the land values per Tønder Hartkorn, in kroner from Christensen (1985: Table VII.2, 106–107) for the period (1870–1900). We assume that one Tønder Hartkorn is equivalent to 18 Tønder land, and this is approximately equal to 10 hectares. For the 1900–1930 period we extracted land values from Statistik Årbog. In this sense, from 1900 to 1912, we consider the sale price of rural properties (propriétés rurales vendues [sans monture et à l'exclusion des ventes par adjudication, entre parents, etc.]) per Tønder Hartkorn. For the period 1913–1930 we consider the ordinary sale price of rural properties (including land and constructions) per Tønder Hartkorn. Finally, we obtain the total agricultural area (total crop area plus fallow areas) in Johansen (1985: Table 2.2, 129–130).
New Zealand and Uruguay
Data extracted from (Álvarez, 2008) and updates (Álvarez & Willebald, 2013; Álvarez, 2014).
1.4 Profits
Profits are obtained by difference for the three countries.
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Álvarez, J., de las Mercedes Menéndez, M. (2022). Land-Ownership Systems and Agrarian Income Distribution in Denmark, New Zealand and Uruguay During the First Globalization Era and Beyond. In: Álvarez, J., Prado, S. (eds) Scandinavia and South America—A Tale of Two Capitalisms. Palgrave Studies in Economic History. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-09198-8_7
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