Manorial Land Tenure and Economic Performance

The technical efficiency of 140 freeholds and 114 tenant farms on the Rensselaerwyck manorial estate in New York (USA) in 1850 is assessed using mathematical programming Data Envelopment Analysis. Freeholds are roughly 5% more efficient, a small difference likely owing to the fixed rent perpetual leases of the tenants. When both types are projected onto their respective production possibility frontiers, the pure tenancy penalty shrinks to about one percent. Farm wealth is remarkably equally distributed under both organizational forms, which contradicts the view that initial land inequality (manorial estates) is self-perpetuating.