european world week four tim davies. lecture structure introduction to the world economy, c.1500...
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Continuity and Change in The Early Modern
Global Economy
European World Week Four
Tim Davies
Lecture StructureIntroduction to the world economy, c.1500Changes in the economy 1500 – 1750…
Europe:PopulationAgricultureManufactureTrade
HistoriographyThe wider world and divergence
European Economies c. 1500Rural - PeasantrySome developments in trade…
Genoa and Venice
View of Genoa in the Sixteenth Century
European Economies c. 1500Rural - PeasantrySome developments in trade…
Genoa and VeniceDominance of Italy and Flanders (Belgium)Large gap between rich and poor societiesLimited choice (Musgrave)
The World Beyond EuropePoly-centricSignificance of Asia:
Islamic worldTransnational interactionMastery of science, navigation and a sophisticated
commercial structure
A market scene, Constantinople,
sixteenth century
The World Beyond EuropePoly-centricSignificance of Asia:
Islamic worldTransnational interactionMastery of science, navigation and a sophisticated
commercial structureChina
Widespread literacy, sophisticated economyOverseas exploration (Zheng He)
Hongzhi Emperor (Ming Dynasty), 1470-1505
Zheng He, (1371-1433)
Economic Growth in Europe?Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie,
The Peasants of Languedoc = ‘l’histoire immobile’Low production ceiling…
Population and UrbanisationDramatic population rise in some areas … increased
European population as a whole…75 million in 1500110 – 120 million in 1700(De Vries, 1984, p. 36)
More of this population lived in towns…
Rising prices as demand increasedProduction (agricultural and manufacture) appears to keep
pace
AgricultureTwo periods of agrarian change:
1500 – 1600More intensive use of land
1600 – 1750Labour efficiencies
Mark Overton
Proto-IndustrialisationF. Mendels, 'Proto-industrialisation: the First
Phase of the Industrialisation Process', JEconH, 32 (1972)
P. Kriedte, H. Medick and J. Schlumbohm, Industrialization before Industrialization (Cambridge, 1981)
Proto-Industrialisation
Proto-IndustrialisationRural labour; often in tandem with agricultural
workProduction for a market – using urban-based
merchantsLow rate of technological changeExtensive rather than intensive growthDiversification
ManufactureDevelopment in certain industries and
areas…MiningIronStill small scale…Importance of England, Sweden and
HollandAlthough some development elsewhere
Iron industry in Germany, sixteenth century
Mining in Germany, sixteenth century
Antwerp Stock Exchange, 1650
The English and Dutch East India Companies
The Role of the StateMercantilism
Sixteenth and seventeenth centuriesStates and foreign tradeTariffs
National banksBank of Sweden, 1668Bank of England, 1694
Some Explanations…Population growth => economic activity => sustained
economic growth (Postan)
Weak peasant farmers, strong capitalist farmers => enclosure and farming innovations => rapid agricultural growth (Brenner)
Enhanced protections of property rights => incentive for profitable activity => sustained economic growth (North)
Wallerstein and World SystemsImmanuel Wallerstein,
The Modern World-System, vol. 1: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World Economy in the Sixteenth century (1974)
Centre and Periphery…
World Beyond Europe, c.1750Ottoman Empire
Imperial overstretch?China
Regime changeNo more overseas expansion
Changes seem quite marked in comparison to Europe:Foreign tradePower of the state – mercantilismDevelopment of Proto-Industry
Divergence?
Stagnation?Not everywhere in Europe experienced
such developments. This is important…Economic growth not a normal
condition. 0.04 % – 0.08% annually.North/South divideJan Luiten van Zanden – measuring early
modern economic growth
ConclusionsA transition to capitalism?Owners of capital rather than owners of
landNew world of choice and variation…
But not everyone includedNot yet a unified global economy…
Beginnings of divergence?