Over the same period, certain other factorsâfor example, higher energy costsâhad a greater effect on food prices than did the use of ethanol as a motor fuel.â. Congressional Budget Office, The Impact of Ethanol Use on Food Prices and Greenhouse-Gas Emissions, April 2009.
Thousands of innocent Jews, who had also suffered from the plague, were slaughtered in dozens of European communities. Social and Economic Effects of the Black Death. Some social changes caused by the Black Death were positive. Before the plague, peasant serfs were confined to their lord's estate and received little or no payment for their work. Overpopulation and shortage of resources led to malnutrition and extreme poverty for many peasants.
Because they did not understand the biology of the disease, many people believed that the Black Death was a kind of divine punishmentâretribution for sins against God such as greed, blasphemy, heresy, fornication and worldliness. By this logic, the only way to overcome the plague was to win Godâs forgiveness.