The Invisible City: Monetary, Administrative and Popular Infrastructures in Asia and Europe, 1500-1900 (Collected Studies, No. 387)

State Formation Reconsidered:an Essay On Method And On The Generation Of Authority And Popular Institutions. 1. Preamble. 2. Introduction: State Of The Historiography. 3. System Versus Process: A Necessary Distinction. 4. Administrative Order And Its Unofficial Infrastructures. A. Household Administrations. B. Accounting And Paper. C. The Library Of Categories And Techniques. D. Measurement Systems And Their Organisational Contexts. E. Rights And Properties. 5. Popular Organisation And Counter-ideologies. 6. The Field Of Relevance -- 7. Conclusions. A. The Institutional City B. The Continuity Issue -- The Parts Of The Machine: Division Of Labour In European And South Asian Coin Manufacture Before Mechanisation. 1. The Problem. 2. Combinations Of The Production Line. 3. Divisions Of Time And Labour -- 4. Conclusion -- Money-use In Late Precolonial South Asia And The World Trade In Currency Media -- 1. Introduction. 2. The Problem. 3. International Production And Supply, And Imports Into South Asia. 4. The Structure Of Demand. A. The Eighteenth Century In The Longer Historical Context. B. Substitutions Of Copper, Cowries And Silver In The Seventeenth Century. C. A Provisional Chronology Of Currency Production And Circulation In The Western Deccan. D. An Economy Of Intensive Circulation. E. Credit, Finance And The Supply Of Money. F. Signs And Symbols: A Typology And Language Of Uses And Productions. 5. Conclusion: Construction Of The City -- Financial Institutions And Business Practices Across The Euro-asian Interface: Comparative And Structural Considerations, 1500-1900. 1. Preface. 2. General Perspectives And Methodological Issues. 3. The Evidence: Institutions, Instruments, Networks And Complementarities. I. South Asia. A. The Sixteenth And Seventeenth Centuries. B. The Eighteenth Century. Ii. China. A. The Problem -- What Can Be Said About Early Modern Finance. B. Rethinking The Late-nineteenth And Early Twentieth Centuries. 4. Conclusions, Business Practice And The Euro-asian Interface. A Note On The Title -- Monetary Revolution And Societal Change In Late Medieval And Early Modern Times. 1. The Field. 2. Structural Considerations. 3. The Developmental Question -- Appendix: Transcriptional & Dating Conventions. Frank Perlin. Includes Bibliographical References And Index. These five studies represent a detailed view of monetary production, forms of exchange and processes of state formation. They uncover the infrastructures of a common life that, the author argues, stretches across Asia and Europe and underlies all regional and local developments.