Witchcraft, Weather and Economic Growth in Renaissance Europe

Abstract

In the period between 1300 and 1800 as many as one million people were executed in Europe for the crime of witchcraft. Although a variety of theories about the witch-hunts have been put forward over time, little has been said about the possibility that the witch-hunts were motivated by a desire for vengeance in a time of misfortune. This paper connects the witch-hunts in Europe with deteriorating weather and slow economic growth during this period. The most intense period of witch-hunting coincided with a period of below-average worldwide temperatures known as the little ice age. I find that there is a statistically significant relationship between climate and number of trials: in times of worse climate there were more trials. This finding is robust to different measures of climate. In addition, I find that in periods of slower economic growth there were more witchcraft trials, even controlling for weather patterns. I argue that the two results together suggest that vengeance may have played an important role in witchcraft persecutions.

Keywords: Witchcraft, vengeance, growth

JEL Classification: I30, J16, N43, N53