Guilds, Innovation and the European Economy, 1400-1800 / Edition 1

by S. R. Epstein, Maarten Prak

Overview

For a long time guilds have been condemned as a major obstacle to economic progress in the pre-industrial era. This re-examination of the role of guilds in the early modern European economy challenges that view by taking into account fresh research on innovation, technological change and entrepreneurship. Leading economic historians argue that industry before the Industrial Revolution was much more innovative than previous studies have allowed for and explore the different products and production techniques that were launched and developed in this period. Much of this innovation was fostered by the craft guilds that formed the backbone of industrial production before the rise of the steam engine. The book traces the manifold ways in which guilds in a variety of industries in Italy, Austria, Germany, Switzerland, France, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Britain helped to create an institutional environment conducive to technological and marketing innovations.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780521887175
Publisher:	Cambridge University Press
Publication date:	03/31/2008
Pages:	364
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.25(h) x 1.06(d)

About the Author

S. R. Epstein (1960-2007) was Professor of Economic History and Head of the Economic History Department at the London School of Economics. His numerous publications include Freedom and Growth: Markets and States in Europe, 1300-1750 (2000) and, as editor, Town and Country in Europe, 1300-1800 (2002).

Maarten Prak is Professor of Social and Economic History at Utrecht University. He is author and editor of several books, including The Dutch Republic in the Seventeenth Century (2005).

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements; List of contributors; Introduction: guilds, innovation, and the European economy, 1400–1800 S. R. Epstein and Maarten Prak; 1. Craft guilds, the theory of the firm, and early modern proto-industry Ulrich Pfister; 2. Craft guilds, apprenticeship and technological change in pre-industrial Europe S. R. Epstein; 3. Subcontracting in guild-based export trades, thirteenth–eighteenth centuries Catharina Lis and Hugo Soly; 4. Circulation of skilled labour in late medieval and early modern Central Europe Reinhold Reith; 5. Painters, guilds and the art market during the Dutch Golden Age Maarten Prak; 6. Craft guilds and technological change: the engine loom in the European silk ribbon industry in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Ulrich Pfister; 7. Guilds, technology and economic change in early modern Venice Francesca Trivellato; 8. Inventing in a world of guilds: silk fabrics in eighteenth-century Lyon Liliane Perez; 9. 'Not to hurt of trade': guilds and innovation in horology and precision instrument making Anthony Turner; 10. Reaching beyond the city wall: London guilds and national regulation, 1500–1700 Ian Anders Gadd and Patrick Wallis; 11. Guilds in decline? London livery companies and the rise of a liberal economy, 1600–1800 Michael Berlin; Index.

Editorial Reviews

"This valuable reevaluation and scholarly synthesis is essential for faculty and graduate students. Essential." -Choice

From the Publisher