Activities of the Peasant land bank in the territory of the Penza province in 1884-1895

Introduction. The agrarian reforms of the mid-19th century led not only to the liberation of peasants from serfdom, but also to fundamental economic changes in the agrarian sector of the country’s economy. The peasantry was involved in the civil legal relations related to the purchase and sale of land, having been able not only to cultivate it but also to acquire ownership. It is obvious that this estate was the weakest in pre-revolutionary Russia in economic terms, the low purchasing power limited the activity of the peasantry in the land market and hindered the solution of the pending land issue. In order to help low-income peasants to buy land, a special credit institution was set up to grant loans on favorable terms against the collateral of land acquired, the main activities of which in the territory of the Penza province are devoted this article. Materials and Methods. An analysis of the main performance indicators of the Peasant Land Bank was carried out on the basis of a comprehensive analysis of the credit institution’s records for the period 1884 to 1895. The study was carried out using a number of historical and economic methods, in particular comparative, statistical, quantitative, systemic and others. Results. On the basis of the materials of the Penza province, the main indicators of the activity of the Peasant Land Bank in the first period of its operation are analyzed, the dynamics of credit operations and the ways in which peasants acquire land through the intermediary of a bank are examined, as well as the regional characteristics of the processes being investigated. Discussion and Conclusions. In general, the activities of the bank in the territory of the Penza province during the period from 1884 to 1895. This was done in the general framework of its credit policy in the territory of the Russian Federation, but possessed a certain specificity: peasants here were more willing to take loans to buy land in rural societies than in partnerships, as was the case in the country as a whole: The price of the land purchased in the province under the mediation of the Peasant Land Bank in 1888 and from 1891 to 1895 dropped below market, which was not the case for European Russia as a whole. At the same time, the volume of activity of the bank in the governorate was negligible, accounting for only about 1 % of the total volume of transactions carried out by the bank in the country as a whole.