Early Modern Capitalism: Economic and Social Change in Europe, 1400–1800 / Edited by Maarten Prak

Early Modern Capitalism Early Modern Capitalism takes stock of recent research on the development of economic growth, and the development of capital and labour markets, during the centuries that preceded the Industrial Revolution. This book discusses important issues such as the nature of the late medieval crisis that has always been pictured as the ‘start’ of European capitalism; it examines the quantitative dimensions of economic growth, as well as more specific topics such as the consumption of energy in early modern Europe. Issues such as proto-industry, proletarianization, and labour mobility are also addressed. The book emphasizes the diversity in the economic experience of early modern Europe and suggests how this diversity might serve as the foundation of a new conception of economic and social change, replacing the traditional dichotomies of pre-industrial versus industrial or pre-modern versus modern/post-modern. Maarten Prak is Professor of Social and Economic History at the University of Utrecht. He has published widely on topics of early modern social history in international books and journals. Routledge Explorations in Economic History 1 Economic Ideas and Government Policy Contributions to contemporary economic history Sir Alec Cairncross 2 The Organization of Labour Markets Modernity, culture and governance in Germany, Sweden, Britain and Japan Bo Stråth 3 Currency Convertibility The gold standard and beyond Edited by Jorge Braga de Macedo, Barry Eichengreen and Jaime Reis 4 Britain’s Place in the World A historical enquiry into import controls 1945–1960 Alan S.Milward and George Brennan 5 France and the International Economy From Vichy to the Treaty of Rome Frances M.B.Lynch 6 Monetary Standards and Exchange Rates M.C.Marcuzzo, L.Officer, A.Rosselli 7 Production Efficiency in Domesday England, 1086 John McDonald 8 Free Trade and its Reception 1815–1960 Freedom and trade: Volume I Edited by Andrew Marrison 9 Conceiving Companies Joint-stock politics in Victorian England Timothy L.Alborn 10 The British Industrial Decline Reconsidered Edited by Jean-Pierre Dormois and Michael Dintenfass 11 The Conservatives and Industrial Efficiency, 1951–1964 Thirteen wasted years? Nick Tiratsoo and Jim Tomlinson 12 Pacific Centuries Pacific and Pacific Rim economic history since the 16th century Edited by Dennis O.Flynn, Lionel Frost and A.J.H.Latham 13 The Premodern Chinese Economy Structural equilibrium and capitalist sterility Gang Deng iii 14 The Role of Banks in Monitoring Firms The case of the Credit Mobilier Elisabeth Paulet 15 Management of the National Debt in the United Kingdom, 1900–1932 Jeremy Wormell 16 An Economic History of Sweden Lars Magnusson 17 Freedom and Growth The rise of states and markets in Europe, 1300–1750 S.R.Epstein 18 The Mediterranean Response to Globalization Before 1950 Sevket Pamuk and Jeffrey G.Williamson 19 Production and Consumption in English Households 1600–1750 Edited by Mark Overton, Jane Whittle, Darron Dean and Andrew Haan 20 Governance, the State, Regulation and Industrial Relations Ian Clark 21 Early Modern Capitalism Economic and social change in Europe, 1400–1800 Edited by Maarten Prak Early Modern Capitalism Economic and social change in Europe, 1400–1800 Edited by Maarten Prak London and New York First published 2001 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 2001 Editorial selection and material, Maarten Prak; individual chapters, the contributors All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Early modern capitalism: economic and social change in Europe, 1400–1800 / edited by Maarten Prak. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Europe—Economic conditions. 2. Europe—Social conditions. 3. Capitalism—History. I. Economic and social change in Europe, 1400–1800. II. Prak, Maarten Roy, 1955– HC240.E233.2000 338.94’009–dc21 00–35308 ISBN 0-203-98895-7 Master e-book ISBN ISBN 0-415-21714-8 (Print Edition) Contents List of figures viii List of tables ix List of contributors x Acknowledgements xi 1 Early modern capitalism: an introduction 1 MAARTEN PRAK PART I Economic growth 21 2 The late medieval crisis as an ‘integration crisis’ 23 S.R.EPSTEIN 3 The energy basis for early modern growth, 1650-1820 49 PAOLO MALANIMA 4 Early modern economic growth: a survey of the 67 European economy, 1500-1800 JAN LUITEN VAN ZANDEN 5 Pre-industrial economic growth and the transition to an 85 industrial economy EDWIN HORLINGS PART II Capital and labour 103 6 International capital markets and their users, 1450-1750 105 IAN BLANCHARD 7 Labour in proto-industrialization: big questions and 123 micro-answers JÜRGEN SCHLUMBOHM 8 Problems of the ‘family economy’: peasant economy, 133 domestic production and labour markets in pre- industrial Europe AD KNOTTER vii 9 Mobilization of labour in early modem Europe 159 JAN LUCASSEN PART III Conclusion 173 10 Economic growth before and after the Industrial 175 Revolution: a modest proposal JAN DE VRIES Bibliography 193 Index 229 Figures 2.1 Price volatility of wheat in Europe, 1310-1649 26 2.2 Convergence of wheat prices, Florence and Arezzo, 1400–1560 38 2.3 Long-term rates of interest on European state debt, 1300–1600 38 2.4 The cost of private capital in Europe, 1200-1600 39 3.1 Energy consumption in Europe, 1700–1850 53 3.2 European population, 600–2000 (excluding Russia) 57 5.1 A schematic view of the economy 87 6.1 Northern European base interest rates, 1265–1635 106 6.2 Exchange systems, 1460–1545 110 6.3 Exchange systems, 1540–1740 113 6.4 England-Lower Rhine: actual and projected base rates 114 6.5 England: marginal efficiency of capital 116 9.1 Trajectories of labour mobilization 161 Tables 3.1 Energy consumption in eighteenth-century Europe (kcal/day/capita) 52 3.2 Energy consumption, 1700–1850 (kcal/day/capita) 53 3.3 Biomass production 54 3.4 Main organic energy converters in 1600 and 1800 (primary converters) 56 3.5 Per capita energy consumption from organic sources, per day and per year 57 (kcal) 3.6 Soil utilization in Italy (1600), France (1600), and England/Wales (1689) (in 60 million ha and %) 4.1 Population, level of urbanization and ‘development index’, 1500–1800 70 4.2 Estimates of the development of the output per head of the agricultural 73 population and of GDP per capita in England, 1086–1800 (indices 1800=100) 4.3 Estimates of the development of GDP per capita in six European countries, 74 1500–1800 (UK in 1820=100) 4.4 Estimates of the growth of the European merchant fleet, c. 1500–1780 (in 80 thousand tons) 4.5 Estimates of the development of production in the iron industry of Western 81 Europe, 1500–1790 (in thousand tonnes) Contributors Ian Blanchard is Professor of Medieval Economic History at the University of Edinburgh, and Recurrent Professor at the Central European University, Budapest. Stephan Epstein is Reader in Economic History at the London School of Economics. Edwin Horlings is a post-doctoral researcher at the History Department of the University of Amsterdam. Ad Knotter is Director of the Sociaal-Historisch Centrum and Professor at the University of Maastricht. Jan Lucassen is Director of Research at the International Institute of Social History in Amsterdam, and Professor of Social History at the Free University, also in Amsterdam. Paolo Malanima is Professor of Economic History and Economics at the University of Catanzaro. Maarten Prak is Professor of Social and Economic History of the University of Utrecht, and teaches at University College Utrecht. Jürgen Schlumbohm is Professor at the Max-Planck-Institut für Geschichte in Göttingen. Jan de Vries is Professor of Economic History at the University of California, Berkeley. Jan Luiten van Zanden is Professor of Social and Economic History at the University of Utrecht. Acknowledgements As with so many collective volumes, this book started out as a set of conference papers. In 1991 the first Journées Braudeliennes were organized in Mexico City, initiated by Carlos Aguirre Rojas. The idea was to reflect on and further develop the intellectual legacy of Fernand Braudel. When it was my turn to organize the third Braudel Days in the Netherlands, it seemed appropriate to select the rise of capitalism in the early modern era, a subject central to both the history of the Netherlands and the work of Braudel, as the topic for discussion. Given the initial focus on his work, many of the conference papers took Braudel as their point of departure. The conference discussions were particularly enlightened on this point by the remarks of Madame Paule Braudel, whose interest in our work is acknowledged here with special gratitude. When it came to making a book out of the conference papers, however, it was decided to broaden the scope to a more general discussion of economic and social change during the late Middle Ages and early modern era. Fernand Braudel’s inspiration will nonetheless be visible throughout the book and even if not all of his conclusions are supported by every individual contributor, many of the chapters testify quite explicitly to Braudel’s enduring influence and inspiration.

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