Abstract
In 1946, the economist Maurice Dobb published a book that attempted to explain how feudalism gave way to capitalism. Dobb's book began a debate among economists and historians that has continued until this day. Dobb thought that feudalism went into decline and was replaced by capitalism because of endogenous causes rooted in the class struggles between serfs and noblemen. An early and prominent critic, Paul M. Sweezy, thought that the factors which led to the decline of feudalism and rise of capitalism were exogenous, and these factors included the development and growth of international trade, production for markets and money, the growth and importance of cities, and the need for European monarchies to unite their kingdoms and to finance their wars and overseas empires. This paper does some preliminary empirical testing of these hypotheses using data from Britain from the 1200s to the 1800s. The findings of this paper are informative in trying to better understand the debate and provide some food for thought on how capitalism may change in the future.
Highlights
Often using the concept and methodology of “historical materialism,” Marxian economists and historians have attempted to explain the evolution of human society and its economic system from that of hunter-gatherers in pre-history; to one ofWorld Review of Political Economy Vol 11 No 4 Winter 2020slavery in antiquity; to feudalism in the Middle Ages; and to capitalism in current times (Marx and Engels [1845] 1974)
This paper examines a debate over the causes of feudalism’s demise and the transition to capitalism in the hope of gaining insights and lessons as to the sustainability of capitalism
Given that most of the data estimated by Clark (2009) and in BEG are based upon the authors’ estimates of piecing together myriad data sources from medieval England and later British history, it is still hard to say which set of reasons is “better” at explaining the demise of feudalism
Summary
Often using the concept and methodology of “historical materialism,” Marxian economists and historians have attempted to explain the evolution of human society and its economic system from that of hunter-gatherers in pre-history; to one ofWorld Review of Political Economy Vol 11 No 4 Winter 2020slavery in antiquity; to feudalism in the Middle Ages; and to capitalism in current times (Marx and Engels [1845] 1974). Central to historical materialism is the idea that humanity’s material circumstances, not the philosophy of idealism, shape its existence and that a society’s dominant mode of production reflects its material circumstances (Engels [1880] 1935; Marx and Engels [1845] 1974). Mainstream and orthodox economists and social scientists often do not examine or contemplate the long-term existence of capitalism. Still others believe that some combination of these two factors and other causes will cause capitalism to eventually be supplanted by a new political and economic order such as socialism. This paper examines a debate over the causes of feudalism’s demise and the transition to capitalism in the hope of gaining insights and lessons as to the sustainability of capitalism
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