General

black death killed 30-40% of European population
wealth per capita was about the same all before 1800
- many cavemen had better lives than 1800s workers
- e.g. diet, work hours
Austria and Portugal have highest Celibacy Rates
agricultural innovations before 1800
- horseshoe and better harnesses
- better ploughs & crop rotations
- fertilizers (animal based)
- keeping animals in barns
- production of milk/leather/wool closer to cities

Slow Growth Before 1800

serfdom
- no labor or land markets
- no competition between land lords
- no specialization or urbanization
other market-unfriendly institutions
- open fields
- no interest allowed
- monopolies, corruption, subsidies
- guilds (i.e. local cartels)
local → little trade
inefficient and poor → unproductive agriculture
badly organized → no knowledge accumulation/innovation
zero-sum mentality → merchants unpopular, no saving/investing

any technological advance was lost due to population increase
- linear food production function
- exponential food consumption function
life expectancy: 30-45 years
birth/death rates (BR/DR) are dependent of living standards (LS)
- better LS → higher BR → higher pop → lower LS → higher DR → lower pop → $\infty$
- equilibrium reached around same LS, with higher population
- preventive check: limit birth rate to live longer (raise LS)
- also applicable to wolf/deer population in a forest

underdevelopment = lack of division of labor, capital
- → lack of integrated markets
specialization = higher skill levels
- only if sustained by high demand
- falls in demand can reverse specialization
specialization has barriers (laborers die)
- can be extended by education/skill sharing
investments into new tools/innovations highly lucrative
- e.g. dutch windmill evolution