[Theme] Why Institutional Reform Is Hard:Serfdom and the Architecture of Institutional Change

[Date & Time] 10:00–11:30, Jul 6, 2026 (Mon.)

[Location]Room 623, Mingde Main Building, Zhongguancun Campus

[Speaker]Sheilagh Ogilvie Professor Emeritus of Economic History, University of Oxford

[Introduction] 
Economists agree that institutions shape growth, yet deliberate institutional reform is repeatedly delayed and, once enacted, slow to deliver gains. This paper asks why, using European serfdom (c. 850–1861) as its test case. It argues that serfdom was not a free-standing institution but one component of a wider institutional ecosystem comprising the state, the peasant commune, the town, and the guild. Because each component conferred benefits on groups whose support held the system in place, reform required altering the whole architecture, not a single law. This framework explains both the protracted, disappointing emancipations of 1781–1861 and serfdom’s quiet medieval dissolution in the west. and internationally, including International Journalism Studies and New Media & Society.