Awful shocks...

The ultimate shock that a society, and therefore an economy, endures is one in which a very large part of that society is affected. We talk here about all-encompassing wars, like WW I and WW II in Europe or the Civil War in the United States. But the most striking examples of such ultimate shocks are pandemics. And the worst of these were the two plague pandemics in 542-545 and 1347-1348. Of course, the disease swept various geographic areas after those two visits on a regular basis, but never as profoundly as in those two occasions.

The culprit of these two plague pandemics is the bacillus Y. Pestis. It is the ultimate killing machine when unleashed on its victims. And on both occasions the bacillus migrated from rodents to humans through fleas. The effects were devastating and in both cases 1/3 to 1/2 of the human population was wiped out, in particular in cities and other densely populated areas. In both cases the effects on the economy were profound and caused a significant change in history.

In my next postings I will try to sketch the consequences of the visits of Y. Pestis to medieval Europe. Numerous new accounts have recently popped up and there seems an increase in the study of these consequences in the economic history literature.