Abstract
The impacts of climate change on human societies have become a major political issue in the last decade. In this context, the study of the impacts of climate change in the past gains new importance as it can provide insights into societal adaptation processes. Economic history has so far played only a minor role in such analysis. Besides the work of Pfister (1984a, b, 1988, 1990) for Switzerland, Parry (1978) for the English-Scottish border and Lachiver (1991) and Lebrun (1971) for France, only a few scattered studies have appeared (see Galloway, 1994, for a thorough analysis of demographic impacts). This can only partly be explained by lack of data. For England, a wealth of demographic and climatic data exists back into the 17th century. The database for France is much scantier but has improved through recent research (Lachiver, 1991).
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Michaelowa, A. (2001). The Impact of Short-Term Climate Change on British and French Agriculture and Population in the First Half of the 18th Century. In: Jones, P.D., Ogilvie, A.E.J., Davies, T.D., Briffa, K.R. (eds) History and Climate. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4757-3365-5_10
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