Please use this identifier to cite or link to this item: https://hdl.handle.net/10419/246959 
Year of Publication: 
2012
Series/Report no.: 
EHES Working Papers in Economic History No. 28
Publisher: 
European Historical Economics Society (EHES), s.l.
Abstract: 
Still in recent research a low productive peasant economy and traditional peasant society are often made responsible for Southeast Europe's economic backwardness prior to 1945. However, the radical change of paradigm after 1960 in the view of peasants as agents of economic growth and of their ability to adjust to markets has surprisingly never been realized in economic history research on the Balkan-states (Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Greece). Interpreting agricultural development as a mainly demand-driven process this paper argues that the potential for agricultural growth was much more restricted in Southeast than in Northwest Europe but Balkan peasants seem to have exploited their growth potential as far as possible. There is a lot of evidence that the reasons for sluggish growth before 1940 were definitely not rooted in any 'peasant traditionalism' as often claimed by Balkan elites and many scholars.
Subjects: 
Romania
Bulgaria
Yugoslavia
Greece
agricultural development
peasant economy
JEL: 
N53
N54
O13
Document Type: 
Working Paper

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