Agriculture and Cottage Industry: Redefining the Causes of Proto-Industrialization
传统理论认为自给农业是原工业化的前提，但诺曼底地区棉花产业的扩张表明，季节性失业和无地化才是原工业区的特征，而非自给农业。
Prevailing theory regards subsistence or pastoral agriculture as a prerequisite for the spread of proto-industry. Commercial agriculture and proto-industrialization are viewed as incompatible. The expansion of the cotton industry in the pays de Caux, a fertile cereal-producing region in Normandy, contradicts the theory and indicates that seasonal unemployment and landleness, not subsistence agriculture, were the distinguishing features of proto-industrial regions. When these regions were located near market towns, the peasants' need for off-season work complemented the growing demand of eighteenth-century merchants for a large labor supply and determined the location of proto-industries.