Plague and Lethal Epidemics in the Pre-Industrial World

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: Bocconi University; Bocconi University
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050717000092
• 发表日期: 2017
• 页码: 314-343
• 关键词: european marriage pattern; black-death; economic depression; yersinia-pestis; late-medieval; mortality; depopulation; divergence; AMERICA; origins

摘要

This article provides an overview of recent literature on plagues and other lethal epidemics, covering the period from late Antiquity to ca. 1800. We analyze the main environmental and institutional factors that shaped both the way in which a plague originated and spread and its overall demographic and socioeconomic consequences. We clarify how the same pathogen shows historically different epidemiological characteristics, and how apparently similar epidemics could have deeply different consequences. We discuss current debates about the socioeconomic consequences of the Black Death and other plagues. We conclude with historical lessons to understand modern plagues.