The Research Of Western European Serfdom In New Institutional Economics Perspective

The literature of history and politics focus on the political power of lord and the ser-vitude status of serf, attribute the serfdom of Western Europe to exploitative arrange-ment; according to the economical interpretation to the form of land rent by Steven N. S. Cheung, Douglass C. North point out that labor services were exchanged for the public of protection and justice by serf voluntarily in the absence of national law of western European feudal society. This is a voluntary contractual arrangement, then the conclusion of exploitative arrangement is denied. This paper based on lord power and a broader concept of contract, discuss the transaction cost reason why serfdom existed for a long period of time. First, this paper compare the tenancy that ask for rent and tax with slavery that supervise working process and serfdom that is between these two contract. Then, discuss the transaction cost reason why serfdom was chosen. At last, the conclusion is that, the absence of private property right of serf is the reason why feudal lord chose the contract of the sharing of inputs in the form of labor due to managed their manor in spite of supervision cost and shirking behavior.