Manors and markets in Rhineland, Westphalia and Lippe, 1650-1850

该项目分析了公元前1000年至公元前1000年期间北莱茵-威斯特伐利亚五到六个庄园的谷物销售情况。1650-1850.推动这项研究的思想是，区域市场经济和市场社会在庄园粮食库存的日常管理框架内发展到相当大的一部分，粮食租金是庄园的主要收入来源。该项目遵循四条主要调查路线：第一，跟踪销售量和价格，主要是评估区域市场一体化进程。其次，它对当地市场进行了微观分析，涉及庄园的合同类型和交易伙伴。预计这将产生关于市场机构演变的信息，以及地方网络与区域网络在地方粮食市场运作中的相对重要性。第三，粮食销售的季节性模式，以及粮食库存的额外信息进行了研究，以测试是否使用庄园与他们的粮食收入符合理性投资者的模型。此外，还将利用有关拖欠当地农民租金和粮食销售的信息，探索另一种家长式模式，其特点是连锁市场和精英一方的义务文化。与庄园经济有关的当代手册（主要是所谓的Hausväter-Literatur）将被视为指导这两种对比模式之间实际行为的潜在规范背景。第四，也是最后，本课题探讨了庄园粮食销售管理中的委托代理问题。由于缺席所有权是规则，日常运作由居住在庄园的管理员领导。这意味着信息不对称，并为管理员的机会主义行为创造了空间。由于谷物销售必须得到所有者的批准，这些问题的圆满解决构成了庄园一致市场行为的先决条件。关于方法，该项目主要依靠两个支柱。一方面，它开发了一个关于个人粮食销售及其属性的关系数据库，然后可以使用统计工具进行分析。另一方面，定量分析得到了关于粮食租金、库存和销售管理的协议、信件等定性分析的支持和扩展。通过对六个不同背景下的庄园进行比较，我们可以深入了解粮食市场的演变与区域发展模式之间的关系。

The project analyses grain sales of five to six manors in present-day North Rhine-Westphalia during the period c. 1650-1850. The idea motivating this research is that regional market economies and market societies developed to a substantial part within the framework of the everyday administration of grain stocks of manors, for which grain rents consisted a major source of income. The project pursues four main lines of inquiry: First, it tracks sales volumes and prices, mainly to assess processes of regional market integration. Second, it carries out a micro-analysis of local markets with respect to types of contracts and transaction partners of manors. This is expected to yield information on the evolution of market institutions and the relative importance of local vs. regional networks in the operation of local grain markets. Third, seasonal patterns of grain sales, together with additional information on grain stocks are studied in view of testing whether the use that manors made with their grain income conformed to the model of the rational investor. In addition, information concerning arrears on rents and grain sales to local peasants will be used to explore an alternative paternalist model characterized by interlocking markets and a culture of obligation on the side of elites. Contemporary manuals relating to the manorial economy (mainly so-called Hausväter-Literatur) will be considered as a potential normative background orienting actual behaviour between these two contrasting models. Fourth and finally, the project explores principal-agent issues in the management of grain sales by manors. Since absentee ownership was the rule, day-to-day operations were led by administrators residing on the manor. This implied information asymmetries and created room for opportunistic behaviour on the side of the administrator. Since grain sales had to be ratified by owners, satisfactory resolution of these issues formed a prerequisite for consistent market behaviour of the manor. With respect to method the project rests on essentially two pillars. On the one hand, it develops a relational database of individual grain sales and their attributes, which can then be analysed using statistical tools. On the other hand, the quantitative analysis is supported and extended by a qualitative analysis by protocols, letters etc. concerning the management of grain rents, stocks and sales. The comparison of about half a dozen of manors from different contexts is expected to yield insights concerning the relationships between the evolution of grain markets and regional patterns of development.