Was Domar Right? Serfdom and Factor Endowments in Bohemia

Do factor endowments explain serfdom? Domar (1970) conjectured that high land-labor ratioscaused serfdom by increasing incentives to coerce labor. But historical evidence is mixed andquantitative analyses are lacking. Using the Acemoglu-Wolitzky (2011) framework andcontrolling for political economy variables by studying a specific serf society, we analyze11,349 Bohemian serf villages in 1757. The net effect of higher land-labor ratios was indeedto increase coercion. The effect greatly increased when animal labor was included, anddiminished as land-labor ratios rose. Controlling for other variables, factor endowmentssignificantly influenced serfdom. Institutions, we conclude, are shaped partly by economicfundamentals.