Tracking the agricultural revolution in England

The timing of the English agricultural revolution is investigated using three indicators: output growth implied by a demand curve, crop yields calculated from probate inventories, and productivity as indicated by real rents. All three indicators imply that the agricultural revolution took place between 1600 and 1750 rather than between 1750 and 1800. These findings contradict the classic interpretation, which assigns the agricultural revolution to the period of parliamentary enclosures in the second half of the eighteenth century, and, instead, support the view that small-scale, open field farmers were responsible for rising output and productivity from 1600 to 1750.