Case Study

A Landowner's Dilemma in 1280 England

An English landowner in 1280 needs to increase the grain output from his fields to meet demand. He is considering two strategies:

  1. Hire several additional farmhands from the large pool of available local peasants to intensify the cultivation using existing simple tools.
  2. Make a significant financial investment in a new, more efficient type of heavy plow, which would increase yield per acre but is very costly.

Given the general economic conditions of the period—a population of nearly five million and an average wage that was 61% of the level it would be in 1860—which strategy represents the more economically rational choice for the landowner? Justify your decision.

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Updated 2025-07-21

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