Historical_Example_of_Labor_Supply_and_Demand

I chose to right about The Black Plague. The Black Plague occurred during the early 1330’s. During The Black Plague, which killed about 25 million people over five years, the economy did a complete flip. Thousands of debt collectors, merchants, serfs, ect, died at this time. There was no one to collect the debts owed as many of the debt collectors dies. There was a huge labor shortage. Machines broke down because there was no one to fix the equipment. Crafts were lost because so many people died. The people who didn’t die who knew the crafts were in huge demand. The demand for certain supplies rose, mainly for the crafts that were no longer available. There was a labor shortage in many crafts. However, on the other scale there was no one to buy certain supplies so prices went down to encourage more purchasing of goods. This also had a hand in the economy fluctuating. Demands and supplies were high on certain crafts and in others the demand and supply were low causing prices to rise and fall and wages to rise. Wages rose because the demand of workers rose. Entire villages died leaving landlords to try and find workers. They also wanted more work than the serfs were willing to give. Landlords stopped freeing the serfs because they needed the serfs to work their land. The serfs started to demand fairer treatment and lighter workloads.  Boise State University. (n.d.). The Middle Ages The Black Plague. Retrieved from http://www.boisestate.edu/courses/westciv/plague/  The Middle Ages.Net. (2010). The Black Death: Bubonic Plague. Retrieved from http://www.themiddleages.net/plague.html.