Crop Prices in the Austrian Monarchy (1770–1816): The Role of Crop Failures and Money Inflation

摘要

The paper is based on data about local cereal prices in Bohemia recorded in the course of 46 years (1770-1816) by F.J. Vavák, Czech farmer living close to Prague. This information appeared in a series of his memoirs published within 1907-1938 and in 2009. The data analysis shows that annual means of prices of wheat, rye, and barley are relatively well correlated and can be used for illustration of the state monetary situation. A higher variation of the annual mean values was observed only in times of crop failure and was also related to the new harvest. The data obtained for pea differ from the data mentioned above. It was shown that the market prices were influenced mainly by crop failures caused by weather and climate and by the state monetary policies. The money purchasing power was influenced either by objective causes, like crop failures of reversible character, or by subjective changes caused mainly by inflationary monetary policies which in the case of Austria had conduced to a state bankruptcy.