Early Modern Capitalism: Economic and Social Change in Europe 1400-1800 (Routledge Explorations in Economic History)

This volume takes stock of recent research on economic growth, as well as the development of capital and labour markets, during the centuries that preceded the Industrial Revolution. The book underlines the diversity in the economic experiences of early modern Europeans and suggests how this variety might be the foundation of a new conception of economic and social change. Book Cover Half-Title Title Copyright Contents Figures Tables Contributors Acknowledgements 1 Early modern capitalism The end of feudalism and the origins of capitalism Trade and the emergence of a world-economy The agrarian roots of European capitalism Proto-industry and the transition to industrialization Economic growth and beyond Notes Part I Economic growth 2 The late medieval crisis as an ‘integration crisis’ 1 The ‘traditional’ feudal economy 2 Outline of a new model of the feudal economy 3 The late medieval crisis 4 From late medieval crisis to early modern growth Notes 3 The energy basis for early modern growth, 1650–1820 1 Energy sources and energy consumption in the eighteenth century Draught animals Fuels Human energy 2 North and south 3 The carrying capacity in 1600 4 A new energy system Notes 4 Early modern economic growth 1 Population growth and urbanization 2 The development of GDP: country-by-country estimates 3 GDP estimates: a sectoral approach 4 The character of early modern economic growth Notes 5 Pre-industrial economic growth and the transition to an industrial economy 1 The essence of growth 2 Growth before the modern age 3 Constraints on premodern growth 4 The tools of growth before industrialization 5 Transition to modern economic growth 6 Conclusion Notes Part II Capital and labour 6 International capital markets and their users, 1450–1750 1 The integration of money markets in late medieval Europe 2 The impact of central European silver 3 American silver and the European financial markets 4 The expansion of credit 5 Conclusion Notes 7 Labour in proto-industrialization 1 Proto-industrial labour equals rural (semi-)proletariat? 2 Proto-industrialization equals proletarianization of labour? 3 Social inequality or life-cycle mobility? 4 Family labour 5 Relations of production: from structures to strategies Notes 8 Problems of the ‘family economy’ 1 Origins of the concept of family economy: Chayanov and his critics 2 Peasant differentiation and allocation of labour in the proto-industrial family 3 Pre-industrial family economy and women’s labour 4 A medieval wage economy? 5 Farm regions and peasant differentiation after the sixteenth century 6 Servants, family economy and agrarian labour markets 7 Peasant ecotypes and gender-specific work patterns in agriculture 8 Labour cycle and rural labour markets: migrant labour, proto-industry and proletarianization 9 Urban crafts and industries: workshops, households and ‘familialization’ of artisan production 10 Conclusion: family economy, family strategies and labour markets in pre-industrial Europe Notes 9 Mobilization of labour in early modern Europe 1 Five modes of labour mobilization Trajectory 1: Gradual local mobilization of free labour in continental western Europe Trajectory 2: National mobilization of unfree labour in continental eastern Europe Trajectory 3: National mobilization of free labour in maritime western Europe (Spain, Southern Netherlands, England) utch Republic) ... Trajectory 5: International mobilization of free and unfree labour in maritime western Europe (southern Europe) 2 Merchant capitalism and labour mobilization Notes Part III Conclusion 10 Economic growth before and after the Industrial Revolution 1 Modern economic growth 2 The neo-Malthusian model 3 The Industrial Revolution 4 Re-thinking economic growth Modern growth Pre-industrial growth 5 From two models to one Notes Bibliography Index "Early Modern Capitalism" takes stock of recent research on the development of the economic growth, as well as the development of capital and labour markets during the centuries that preceded the Industrial Revolution. An international collection of contributors discuss such issues as the nature of the Late Medieval Crisis that has typically been portrayed as the birth of European Capitalism, and an examination of the quantitive dimensions of econmomic growth, as well as more specifically the consumption of energy in early modern Europe. Issues such as proto-industry, proletarianization, and labour mobility are also addressed. This book underlines the diversity in the economic experiences of early modern Europeans and suggests how this variety might be the foundation of a new conception of economic and social change, to replace the traditional dichotomies of pre-industrial versus industrial, or pre-modern versus modern/post-modern 1. Early Modern Capitalism: An Introduction / Maarten Prak -- Pt. I. Economic Growth. 2. The Late Medieval Crisis As An 'integration Crisis' / S.r. Epstein. 3. The Energy Basis For Early Modern Growth, 1650-1820 / Paolo Malanima. 4. Early Modern Economic Growth: A Survey Of The European Economy, 1500-1800 / Jan Luiten Van Zanden. 5. Pre-industrial Economic Growth And The Transition To An Industrial Economy / Edwin Horlings -- Pt. Ii. Capital And Labour. 6. International Capital Markets And Their Users, 1450-1750 / Ian Blanchard. 7. Labour In Proto-industrialization: Big Question And Micro-answers / Jurgen Schlumbohm. Edited By Maarten Prak. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [195]-230) And Index. During the 1950s and 1960s a distinguished generation of Marxist and neo-Malthusian scholars led by M. M. Postan (1973), Wilhelm Abel (1935), Ernest Labrousse (1933), Fernand Braudel (1982-84, Volume 2), Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie (1966), Maurice Dobb (1946), and Rodney Hilton (1975; also Bois 1984) established the view - later to be enshrined as the so-called 'Brenner debate' (Aston and Philpin 1985) - that pre-modern, 'traditional' societies did not undergo significant long-run intensive per capita economic growth for lack of technological innovation.