In England, the enclosure movement between 1500 and 1800 created artificial scarcity amongst peasants. The scarcity was artificial because the resources (land, forest, waters) remained plentiful, but people’s access to them was restricted. Whereas they were previously able to live off the land, they now had to compete with each other for the right to work on the land. For the first time, people's lives were geared towards maximizing productivity and output. They could no longer meet basic needs without a "work ethic". In the cities, refugees who had been kicked off the land had to compete with each other for wages. People started working 16-hour days, far longer than before enclosure started. Between 1500 and 1900, output of grain per acre of land went up 4 times. This increase in productivity was used to justify enclosure. Appropriation was re-branded as "improvement". This same argument would also be used to justify colonisation. Many elites saw enclosure as a way of increasing the “industry” of the masses. They felt that access to the commons gave people too much leisure and encouraged “insolence”. [[The Enclosure movement used poverty as a spur for productivity]] Even though productivity soared, commoners were hit by two centuries of famine. Wages also declined. None of the benefits of productivity were passed on to the workers. In modern times, this notion of "improvement" is better known as "development" or "growth". Anything can be justified if it contributes to GDP growth. Scarcity, and the threat of hunger, is the engine of capitalist growth. ___ Source: [[Reference Notes/Less is More]]