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Markets and Famines in Pre-Industrial Europe
- Journal of Interdisciplinary History
- The MIT Press
- Volume 36, Number 2, Autumn 2005
- pp. 143-166
- Article
- Additional Information
How markets perform during famines has long been a contentious issue. Recent research tends to associate famine with market segmentation and hoarding. Evidence based on an analysis of the spatial and temporal patterns of food-price movements during four famines in pre-industrial Europe indicates that markets functioned "normally" in times of crisis.