Historical Example of Labor Supply and Demand
Darrell Scott Puehler
XECO/212
April-13, 2012
Mathewos Kassa

Historical Example of Labor Supply and Demand
The Black Death was the largest demographic disaster in European history. Known as the "great pestilence," the Black Death arrived in Italy in late 1347 and made a clockwise movement across the continent where it eventually died out in the Russian hinterlands in 1353 (Routt, 2010) . It had a major impact on the demand and supplies of labor of the European economy especially the agricultural sector of the European job market. Because of the devastating effect of the Black Death, was not felt for a generation the supply for labor was plentiful due to the fact of the peasant population. If one peasant worker fell to his or her death during the onslaught of this pandemic disaster, then another was easily found to replace the lost worker. However, one generation later the effects of the Black Death on the labor market began to take shape. By the 14th century, the agricultural revolution and good climate had provided a high demand for land in England, which meant more workers were needed to farm this land thus, raising the demand for agricultural laborers (Peschke, 2007). However, the effects of the Black Death were finally realized. There was just too much land and not enough workers. The Black Death caused the supply of these workers to decrease and the resulting effect of the decrease in supply and the increase of demand due to the abundance of new farming land, led to the peasants discovering their worth and asking for wages and the abolishment of serfdom.

References
Peschke, Z. (2007). The Impact of the Black Death. ESSAI, 5(1), 32. Retrieved from http://www.dc.cod.edu
Routt, D. (2010). The Economic Impact of the Black Death. Retrieved from