Agriculture and the market

The chapter aims to conduct an analysis of the relationship between market characterisation (specifically, price trends, market integration and efficiency) and agricultural production in the eighteenth century, using as case studies two areas characterised by diverse institutional and agricultural structures. Specifically, the research will address the following research questions: did all the markets share the same position and relationship with the common wheat price trend in a specific area characterised by a significant degree of market integration? Moreover, looking at the correlation between market conditions and the behaviour of the economic players, was the agricultural sector responsive to market dynamics? Did a higher level of market integration and efficiency mean automatically a more market-oriented production? Finally, how did the elements recalled above (the agrarian structures, the institutional context) affect the relationship between the landowners’ choices and market dynamics?.