Harry A. Miskimin examines the economic structure of early Renaissance Europe in 1300-1460.

This is an economic history of sixteenth-century Europe that combines the virtues of a scholarly monograph with those of a general history. Professor Miskimin describes the intellectual and philosophical context in which economic decisions were made, and on which the fundamental economic categories of the period were based.

This is an economic history of sixteenth-century Europe that combines the virtues of a scholarly monograph with those of a general history. Professor Miskimin describes the intellectual and philosophical context in which economic decisions were made, and on which the fundamental economic categories of the period were based.

This new Companion is the ideal reference guide. It fills a gap by providing an authoritative but accessible reference on political, economic, religious, social, as well as cultural developments in this crucial period. It contains information on all major topics including the church, war and diplomacy, civic life, learning and letters, printing, the economy, science and technology, the arts, across Europe and the wider world.

Later generations have sometimes found such actions perplexing, often dismissing them as evidence that business people of the late medieval and early modern worlds did not fully understand market rules.

Drawing on a wide range of literature and adopting a macroeconomic approach, this book provides a comprehensive overview of the Italian economy during the Renaissance, focusing on the period between 1348, the year of the Black Death, and 1630. The Italian Renaissance played a crucial role in the formation of the modern world, with developments in culture, art, politics, philosophy, and science sitting alongside, and overlapping with, significant changes in production, forms of organization, trades, finance, agriculture, and population. Yet, it is usually argued that splendour in culture coexisted with economic depression and that the modernity of Renaissance culture coincided with an epoch of epidemics, famines, economic crisis, poverty, and destitution. This book examines both faces of the Italian economy during the Renaissance, showing that capital per worker was plentiful and productive capacity and incomes were relatively high. The endemic presence of the plague, curbing population growth, played an important role in this. It is also shown that the organization of production in industry and finance, consumerism, human capital, and mercantile rationality were the forerunners of modern-day capitalism. This book is an invaluable resource for scholars and students of the Renaissance and Italian economic history.