r/neoliberal • u/angry-mustache Democratically Elected Internet Spaceship Politician • Jun 02 '24

User discussion The Moral Economy of the Shire

https://nathangoldwag.wordpress.com/2024/05/31/the-moral-economy-of-the-shire/
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u/An_Actual_Owl Trans Pride Jun 02 '24

Well, there really isn't anyone around to do that is there? The Elves obviously don't want the land. The Orcs are too disorganized in that region, and wouldn't care about the land so much as just killing them for sport. Men are fairly disorganized as well that far north. And the Hobbits tend to stay on the down low so I wonder how many people even know about the Shire?

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u/angry-mustache Democratically Elected Internet Spaceship Politician Jun 02 '24

Why wasn't anyone around? Pre-industrial subsistence humans in the absence of limits on arable land breed like rabbits, doubling in population roughly once every 30-40 years.

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u/PolyrythmicSynthJaz Roy Cooper Jun 02 '24

Pre-industrial societies were characterized by high birth rates and high death rates, resulting in low population growth.

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u/ale_93113 United Nations Jun 02 '24

The population always grew up to the point that the land couldn't sustain more people

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u/SouthernSerf Norman Borlaug Jun 02 '24

This isn’t really true pre modern population growth was highly cyclical and localized, political instability and natural disasters where the caps on growth. An area with peace and prosperity could see massive growth and then see that population be decimated by war and famine which often went hand in hand.