GRAIN PRICES AND SUBSISTENCE CRISES IN ENGLAND AND FRANCE, 1590-1740

This paper attempts to explain why England had no food crises from 1650 to 1725, a period when France was unusually vulnerable to famines. During this time oat and barley prices in England did not always increase following a failure of the wheat crop. In France, however, all grains rose in price simultaneously, leaving the poor with no affordable substitute grain when the wheat and rye harvests failed. The shift from symmetrical to more random prices in England is dated, and the paper suggests that different agricultural practices may explain the divergent price structures in the two countries. © 1979, The Economic History Association. All rights reserved.