Prediction: How to See and Shape the Future with Game Theory

by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita

Henry moved to protect property rights and rights of inheritance. These actions made it easier for peasant families to predict whether they would continue to benefit from the land they worked after the head of the family died or whether the lord of the manor would take away their opportunity to farm the land. Henry’s writs greatly shortened the judicial process for determining rights of access to the land and made for a more smoothly operating agricultural system. His new rules proved highly popular and effective in securing the property rights that are essential to economic growth, and they enhanced the king’s credibility as the person who would ensure order and justice in matters of property. Before the writs, tenant farmers were reluctant to invest in their land, but once Henry’s writs protecting property rights were in place, more effort was made by those working the land to produce more—for their own benefit as well as for the benefit of the lord of the manor.