After the Black Death, serfdom disappeared in Western Europe while making a resurgence in Eastern Europe. What explains this difference? I argue that serfdom was against the interests of the sovereign and was only imposed when the nobility, who needed serfdom to maintain their economic and political standing, had leverage to impose their will. The nobility gained this power through financing the state. Using data from the fourteenth through the eighteenth centuries, I show that serfdom was imposed and strengthened in areas where sovereigns had few other resources to finance the state.

中文翻译：

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黑死病后的政府财政和农奴制

黑死病之后，农奴制在西欧消失了，在东欧又重新抬头。是什么解释了这种差异？我认为农奴制违背了君主的利益，只有在需要农奴制来维持其经济和政治地位的贵族有影响力来强加他们的意志时才会被强加。贵族通过资助国家获得了这种权力。使用 14 到 18 世纪的数据，我表明在主权者几乎没有其他资源来资助国家的地区，农奴制被强加和加强。