Wed Nov 19 03:22:26 EST 1997
EHS Abstract Submission
(c) 1997 EH.Net
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Name: Scott M. Eddie
Email: eddie at chass.utoronto.ca
Institution: University of Toronto
Co-author: None
Title: The Price of Land in Eastern Prussia: Data
from the Capital Gains Tax Records, 1891-1907
Internet Address
of abstracted work: Not available on the Internet
By mail:
Dept. of Economics, University of Toronto
150 St. George Street
Toronto, Ontario
Canada M5S 3G7
Language: English
Abstract:
Using data on 438 individual sales of farm properties of 5
hectares or more in size, this article finds that simple area in
hectares of the individual land types and variables for trend,
sales to family members, and overall size of the property
explain nearly all the variation in the prices (both actual and
"net"--that is, adjusted for certain qualitative variables,
deflated by an overall price index to 1913 marks).
Buyers received a discount of about 21 percent if the seller
was a relative, but paid a premium of about 19 percent to acquire
a large property (over 100 hectares), contrary to the
conventional wisdom of the time (1891-1907). The extra premium
for a large property is consistent with a number of hypotheses,
including that of owners associating in a "club" to exclude
lesser beings on the basis of price and/or there being a
consumption value for large properties but not for small ones.
Bibliography: Eddie, Scott M., "The Price of Land in
Eastern Prussia: Data from the Capital Gains Tax Records,
1891-1907," Historical Social Research/Historische
Sozialforschung, vol. 22, no. 2 (1997), pp. 195-216.
Subject: A
Geographical Area: 4
Country/Region: Prussia (area is today part of Poland)
Time Period: 7
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