Every ten years, a group of German farmers gather in the communal farm fields of the Osing for the Osingverlosung, a ritual dating back centuries. Osing refers to the area. And verlosung means "lottery," as in a land lottery. All of the land in this communal land is randomly reassigned to farmers who commit to farming it for the next decade.Hundreds of years ago, a community in Germany came up with their own, unique solution for how to best allocate scarce resources. For this community, the lottery is a way to try and make the system of land allotment more fair and avoid conflict.Today on the show, we go to the lottery and follow along as every farmer has a shot at getting the perfect piece of land — or the absolute worst piece of land! And we see what we can learn from this living, medieval tradition that tries to balance fairness and efficiency.This episode was hosted by Erika Beras and Emma Peaslee. It was produced by Emma Peaslee. It was edited by Jess Jiang. Reporting help from Sofia Shchukina. It was fact checked by Sierra Juarez. It was engineered by Cena Loffredo. Alex Goldmark is Planet Money's executive producer.Help support Planet Money and hear our bonus episodes by subscribing to Planet Money+ in Apple Podcasts or at plus.npr.org/planetmoney.Learn more about sponsor message choices: podcastchoices.com/adchoicesNPR Privacy Policy
Chapter 1: What is the Osingverlosung?
So this is why in the 1500s, the villages came up with a novel system to distribute the land. Elsewhere in Europe, communities were turning communal land into plots people owned individually. Here in the Ossingtho, they came up with their own version of land ownership.
They said, OK, we have to do it in a fair way for all the people from all four villages.
So the villages created the land lottery. Basically, the Olsing would be divided among the people of the four villages. The farmers would randomly be assigned plots. The good ones, the bad ones. Now, some people would be luckier than others. That happens. So there's another part of the lottery. You only got to keep your land for 10 years.
So after 10 years, the names went back in the bag and there was a new drawing. It meant no one would be stuck with a bad plot forever. Another lottery, another chance.
And this is the reason why we have the raffle every 10 years. So in one year you are lucky, you get better land, or next time you are not so lucky, you get more worse. The O-Sync doesn't belong to anybody.
It actually belongs to everybody.
And while we don't do a lot of things today the way we did in the 1500s, for good reason, this land lottery has not changed at all. Every 10 years, in a year that ends in four, right after the harvest, the people here have held a lottery. No matter what. In 1984, the year it rained the day before the lottery and the fields were muddy, they did the lottery.
Even in 1944, during World War II, when bombers flew overhead, they still did the lottery.
And today, in 2024. It's sunny, a little windy, and people are milling around, mostly dressed in jeans and hiking boots. But there's also a man dressed in lederhosen and a woman in a red velvet dress with puffy sleeves and a crown. Is that the empress? Kunikunde is coming. Kunikunde is coming. When the lottery begins, hundreds of people spill out of the tent and onto a gravel path.
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Chapter 2: How do farmers prepare for the land lottery?
Friedrich, the potato farmer, is moving fast. He has real dad at the airport energy. He's walking with a purpose, and we initially lose him in the crowd.
Oh, there he is. Hello again. Hello again. We're going to walk plot to plot and watch as they randomly draw winners at each one. In total, the group will walk to about 600 plots. It's a long walk. It's a long walk? It's a long walk, yes. I hope I wore the right shoes. We never walk alone.
We get to our first plot with Friedrich and his son Veit, who's taking over the farm. Veit has all the stakes with their name. They have nine stakes for nine plots of land. Some farmers have dozens of stakes, others just a few.
The master of ceremonies stands in the middle of the crowd with a bag that has the names of all the farmers in it. Friedrich has a blank map of the Olsing, ready to be filled in if they call his name. We check out this first plot. How is this land? Is this good or this bad?
No, everything is good land here.
This would be good?
Yeah, it's good.
What is so good about this land here?
Now it's the same ground, it's sandy, no stone, small stone.
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