Domar serfdom model
The Domar Serfdom Model is a mid-to-late 20th century model that develops a hypothesis concerning the causes of agricultural slavery or serfdom in historical societies. Evsey Domar first presented this model in his 1970 paper, “ The Causes of Slavery or Serfdom: A Hypothesis” published in the Economic History Review. The Domar Serfdom Model revives a hypothesis originally suggested by Russian Historian Vasily Klyuchevsky, who looks at the causes of slavery through the lens of the Russian experience in the 16th and 17th centuries. In his revisiting of the hypothesis, Domar aims to give it wider applicability while focusing more on an analysis that yields an economic model as an explanation of the causes of slavery. Assumptions and Hypothesis In his model of serfdom, Domar assumes the following: Land and labor are the only factors of production (no capital or management required) (Domar, 2) Land is of uniform quality and location is a non-factor Constant returns in labor (marginal product of labor is constant, and nearly equal to the average product of labor) In addition, Domar asserts that there are 3 elements of agricultural structure relevant in his model: Abundant free land Abundant free labor (free peasants) Large Scale Agriculture