Agricultural productivity in early modern Jiangnan

In terms of agricultural productivity, farm yields per acre (FYA hereafter) and per household are the central criteria. As Marxist historians have emphasized the foundations of agricultural production, discussion of long-term changes in imperial China’s farm yields has attracted much attention. Nonetheless, many of their estimates are poorly constructed empirically in that they lack comprehensive understanding of agricultural productivity in a preindustrial economy. ¹ In contrast, Dwight Perkins’s 1969 study demonstrated an analytical framework based on the interdependent relationship among population growth, changes in agricultural output, and technological innovations, and his research exactly pointed to the important role that population growth played in raising FYA over the long run. According to his research, expansion of aggregate acreage and the increase in FYA together sustained a ten-fold increase in population growth from 65 million in 1368 to 647 million in 1968 (Perkins 1969: 14–18). Per capita output in China, and therefore Chinese living standards, remained roughly stable over those six centuries. ²