Market performance in the grain market of late medieval Western Europe (ca. 1300-1650)

TY - CHAP

T1 - Market performance in the grain market of late medieval Western Europe (ca. 1300-1650)

AU - van Leeuwen, Bas

AU - Philips, Robin

PY - 2021

Y1 - 2021

N2 - Late-medieval Europe was a pre-industrial society caught in apparent economic stagnation, which only started to change from the fifteenth century onwards. One of the factors contributing to the lack of economic growth was the apparent absence of integrated and efficient markets. Yet, recently, Clark (2015) - drawing from datasets on grain prices in ca. 200 locations in Britain - showed that the most important market, for grain, became relatively extensive and efficient from the thirteenth century onwards. This chapter builds upon this line of research, putting this research in an international perspective, by compiling a dataset on market performance of 60 different locations across Europe during 1300-1650. Our results indicate that the European grain market showed indeed gradually increasing performance from the fourteenth century onwards. Yet, substantial regional differences existed, with Northwestern Europe in particular benefitting most from market integration.

AB - Late-medieval Europe was a pre-industrial society caught in apparent economic stagnation, which only started to change from the fifteenth century onwards. One of the factors contributing to the lack of economic growth was the apparent absence of integrated and efficient markets. Yet, recently, Clark (2015) - drawing from datasets on grain prices in ca. 200 locations in Britain - showed that the most important market, for grain, became relatively extensive and efficient from the thirteenth century onwards. This chapter builds upon this line of research, putting this research in an international perspective, by compiling a dataset on market performance of 60 different locations across Europe during 1300-1650. Our results indicate that the European grain market showed indeed gradually increasing performance from the fourteenth century onwards. Yet, substantial regional differences existed, with Northwestern Europe in particular benefitting most from market integration.

KW - market

KW - market performance

KW - middle ages

KW - ancient economy

KW - England

KW - Italy

KW - France

KW - Spain

M3 - Chapter

SN - 978-1-78925-611-6

SP - 155

EP - 169

BT - Markets and Exchanges oin Pre-modern and Traditional Societies

A2 - Moreno Garcia, Juan Carlos

PB - Oxbow books

CY - Oxford and Philadelphia

ER -