Poverty, Inequality and the Finnish 1860S Famine JYVÄSKYLÄ STUDIES in Humanities 287
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JYVÄSKYLÄ STUDIES IN HUMANITIES 287 Miikka Voutilainen Poverty, Inequality and the Finnish 1860s Famine JYVÄSKYLÄ STUDIES IN HUMANITIES 287 Miikka Voutilainen Poverty, Inequality and the Finnish 1860s Famine Esitetään Jyväskylän yliopiston humanistisen tiedekunnan suostumuksella julkisesti tarkastettavaksi yliopiston Historica-rakennuksen salissa H320 toukokuun 13. päivänä 2016 kello 12. Academic dissertation to be publicly discussed, by permission of the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Jyväskylä, in building Historica, auditorium H320, on May 13, 2016 at 12 o’clock noon. UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ JYVÄSKYLÄ 2016 Poverty, Inequality and the Finnish 1860s Famine JYVÄSKYLÄ STUDIES IN HUMANITIES 287 Miikka Voutilainen Poverty, Inequality and the Finnish 1860s Famine UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ JYVÄSKYLÄ 2016 Editors Ilkka Nummela Department of History and Ethnology, University of Jyväskylä Pekka Olsbo, Ville Korkiakangas Publishing Unit, University Library of Jyväskylä Jyväskylä Studies in Humanities Editorial Board Editor in Chief Heikki Hanka, Department of Art and Culture Studies, University of Jyväskylä Petri Karonen, Department of History and Ethnology, University of Jyväskylä Paula Kalaja, Department of Languages, University of Jyväskylä Petri Toiviainen, Department of Music, University of Jyväskylä Tarja Nikula, Centre for Applied Language Studies, University of Jyväskylä Epp Lauk, Department of Communication, University of Jyväskylä URN:ISBN:978-951-39-6627-0 ISBN 978-951-39-6627-0 (PDF) ISSN 1459-4331 ISBN 978-951-39-6626-3 (nid.) ISSN 1459-4323 Copyright © 2016, by University of Jyväskylä Jyväskylä University Printing House, Jyväskylä 2016 ABSTRACT Voutilainen, Miikka Poverty, Inequality and the Finnish 1860s Famine Jyväskylä: University of Jyväskylä, 2016, 257 p. (+ included articles) (Jyväskylä Studies in Humanities ISSN 1459-4323; 287 (nid.) ISSN 1459-4331; 287 (PDF)) ISBN 978-951-39-6626-3 (nid.) ISBN 978-951-39-6627-0 (PDF) This study focuses on the long-term socioeconomic background of the last of the West European peacetime population disasters, the Finnish famine of the 1860s. The study aims to uncover the social and economic processes responsible for the increased vulnerability to crop failures, ultimately triggering the famine. This is accomplished through econometric analysis and usage of extensive quantitative data sets. Applying methodology and using source material widely absent from the existing Finnish famine historiography, this study seeks to widen the prevailing emphases of the domestic literature and to contribute to international study of historical subsistence crises. The main findings of the work are the following. Firstly, contrary to the widely held generalization, Finnish agriculture did not exhibit a sustained productivity decline ultimately leading to the famine. The productivity of grain cultivation grew during the 1800s and only decreased in response to the crop failures of the 1850s and the 1860s. Secondly, legislation concerning land partitioning upheld and increased economic inequality in the rural Finland by constraining rural work opportunities and increasing the share of vagrant rural laborers, vulnerable to exogenous fluctuations in the labor demand. This, coupled with other legal arrangements, left especially young men in an increasingly disadvantaged position. The process was enforced by the underdevelopment of other sectors of the economy. Thirdly, multidimensional mapping of poverty and social structure greatly enhances the picture of spatial socioeconomic conditions prevailing in Finland in the mid-1800s. Various measures of poverty and underdevelopment agglomerated in regions subject to recurrent adverse climate shocks. Little evidence for impoverishment driven by population growth could be found. Fourthly, the crop failure in 1867 constituted a significant income shock and resulted in greatly increased income inequality. By the end of the famine, household incomes remained well below the pre-famine levels, whereas income inequality decreased substantially. Keywords: Famine, Economic development, Economic growth, Inequality, Poverty, Economic history, Social history, Finland, Nineteenth century. Author’s address Miikka Voutilainen Department of History and Ethnology P.O. Box 35 (H) 40014 University of Jyväskylä, Finland [email protected] Supervisors Professor Ilkka Nummela Department of History and Ethnology University of Jyväskylä Professor Jari Ojala Department of History and Ethnology University of Jyväskylä Professor Kari Pitkänen University of Jyväskylä Reviewers Adjunct Professor Antti Häkkinen Department of Political and Economic Studies Economic and Social History University of Helsinki Professor Cormac Ó Gráda UCD School of Economics University College Dublin Opponent Adjunct Professor Antti Häkkinen Department of Political and Economic Studies Economic and Social History University of Helsinki FOREWORD It appears that I’ve finished a PhD. Good for us all. As accustomed, I take this possibility to thank to those who have travelled along. Few works of this magnitude would be possible without helping hands. The most important ones are naturally those of my professors: there are many professors but none are quite like these two of mine. Ilkka. You’ve always (and I do mean always) found interest and patience when a young researcher has bothered you with yet another “oh my, I think I’ve found something”. I don’t believe that this work would have turned out as it did, if you hadn’t insisted on the viewpoint that was ultimately accommodat- ed. I very much consider myself as your student and I’m grateful for you assert- ing that history is an empirical science; regularities have to be uncovered, not decided upon. Jari. Not only have you encouraged and believed in the work I’ve been do- ing from the very first year I came into the department (I kinda miss the railway business), you’ve always trusted my expertise and judgment. Thank you for all the comments, for the support and time you’ve always found to listen, and ad- vice on the varying woes of the day. Thank you also for doing such a splendid job as the Head of our Department; not least in providing facilities to conduct this research. I also cherish those shared experiences, such as Germans advising on English; it’s always nice to accompany. I was privileged to get Professor Cormac Ó Gráda and Adjunct Professor Antti Häkkinen as reviewers, and none other than the latter would have I more preferred as my opponent. I sincerely thank you both for your enthusiasm to participate in this little project of mine, for providing such encouraging and de- tailed reports on my manuscript and for heartening the writer to be bold where his ink was too thin. I’d like to thank Professor Kari Pitkänen and Dr. Andrew Newby for let- ting me participate in the Routledge project and including me in the wider sci- entific community. Kari, even if your role ultimately in this project was smaller than what we initially planned, the foundation you’ve laid with your own re- search has been essential for me to add anything. Professor Jari Eloranta I’d like to thank for encouraging me to see beyond cosy domestic circles and seek recognition on a wider, international scale. Heli Valtonen (pardon me for excluding “Dr.”, because the following escapes aca- demic titles), for providing a junior scholar much needed mentoring especially in the summer of 2011 when he was bewildered and had little clue what to do with his life. Alex Reed and Virginia Mattila, thank you for taking care of the language - yes Alex, “hectares of acreage” sounds weird to me too. This work would not have been possible without funding from the Finn- ish Doctoral Programme of History and from the Department of History and Ethnology here at Jyväskylä. Professor Jaakko Pehkonen deserves additional recognition not only for helping me with funding for the early months of 2016, but also for initiating me in the methodology of economics during my Master’s. My workdays would have been infinitely emptier if it wasn’t for my col- leagues and all of you who have worked and studied at the Department of His- tory and Ethnology during this period. I’d like to thank those with whom I’ve shared discussions about my thesis, those with whom I’ve discussed history, and those with whom I’ve just shared a thought; Tiina Hemminki, Merja Uotila, Kustaa H.J. Vilkuna, Petri Karonen, Olli Matikainen, Olli Turunen, Jari Eilola, Jorma Wilmi, Marja Kokko, Piia Einonen, Matti Roitto, Jarmo Seppälä, Pasi Saarimäki, Elina Kauppinen, Juha-Antti Lamberg, and those very many of you, thank you. The personnel in room H123 have to be acknowledged separately. I espe- cially want to thank Pirita and Tuomas, but not only for the discussions and reflections on our research; I’m privileged to be able to work in a place where it is possible for someone just to bang on the door loudly, step in and make claims about ‘whose’ is my walrus. Mikko and Riina. You’ve provided me heartfelt and when needed, right- fully critical scientific companionship. Our journey together is like one lights- out train ride from Joensuu - absurdly straightforward. Lastly, I thank those closest: my family, where I’ve always found ac- ceptance for all of the avenues I’ve ever wanted to pursue and a loving home to return to. And Teija, the genuine curiosity you show to varying topics of the day, whether they concern the formation of pyroclastic density currents, the mixing of drums on Low or the predatory nature of Haast's eagle never cease to amaze me. Your human warmth and the compassion you show to the world around is undeniably the most valuable of all those things that shape this life of ours. The grand total of this process is not in this volume. It is in the people I've met, friendships I've made and in the places I've been. Most importantly, I've stood in the foothills of the Cascades and seen Mt. Hood in the first light of a late-August morning. Lifting up my feet and putting them on the ground.