Read more
The first volume of The Cambridge History of Capitalism provides a comprehensive account of the evolution of capitalism from its earliest beginnings. Starting with its distant origins in ancient Babylon, successive chapters trace progression up to the 'Promised Land' of capitalism in America. Adopting a wide geographical coverage and comparative perspective, the international team of authors discuss the contributions of Greek, Roman, and Asian civilizations to the development of capitalism, as well as the Chinese, Indian and Arab empires. They determine what features of modern capitalism were present at each time and place, and why the various precursors of capitalism did not survive. Looking at the eventual success of medieval Europe and the examples of city-states in northern Italy and the Low Countries, the authors address how British mercantilism led to European imitations and American successes, and ultimately, how capitalism became global.
List of contents
1. Introduction Larry Neal; 2. Babylonia in the first millennium BC - economic growth in times of empire Michael Jursa; 3. Capitalism and the ancient Greek economy Alain Bresson; 4. Re-constructing the Roman economy Willem M. Jongman; 5. Trans-Asian trade, or the Silk Road deconstructed (Antiquity, Middle Ages) Étienne de la Vaissière; 6. China before capitalism R. Bin Wong; 7. Capitalism in India in the very long run Tirthankar Roy; 8. Institutional change and economic development in the Middle East, 700-1800 ¿evket Pamuk; 9. Markets and coercion in medieval Europe Karl Gunnar Persson; 10. The Via Italiana to capitalism Luciano Pezzolo; 11. The Low Countries Oscar Gelderblom and Joost Jonker; 12. The formation of states and transitions to modern economies: England, Europe and Asia compared Patrick Karl O'Brien; 13. Pre-Columbian and Iberian America Richard Salvucci; 14. The emergence of African capitalism Morten Jerven; 15. Native Americans and exchange: strategies and interactions before 1800 Ann M. Carlos and Frank D. Lewis; 16. British and European industrialization C. Knick Harley; 17. America: capitalism's promised land Jeremy Atack; 18. The political economy of rising capitalism José Luís Cardoso; Index.
About the author
Larry Neal is Emeritus Professor of Economics at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, and Visiting Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science. Specializing in financial history and European economies, he is author of The Rise of Financial Capitalism: International Capital Markets in the Age of Reason (Cambridge, 1990) and The Economics of Europe and the European Union (Cambridge, 2007), and is co-editor of The Origins and Development of Financial Markets and Institutions: From the Seventeenth Century to the Present (Cambridge, 2009) and 'I am Not Master of Events': The Speculations of John Law and Lord Londonderry in the Mississippi and South Sea Bubbles (2012).Jeffrey G. Williamson is Emeritus Laird Bell Professor of Economics, Harvard University, Massachusetts and Honorary Fellow in the Department of Economics, University of Wisconsin, Madison. He is also Research Associate of the National Bureau of Economic Research, Research Fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research, and has been a visiting professor at seventeen universities around the world. Professor Williamson specializes in development, inequality, globalization and history, and he is the author of around 230 scholarly articles and 30 books, his most recent being Trade and Poverty: When the Third World Fell Behind (2011), Globalization and the Poor Periphery before 1950 (2006), Global Migration and the World Economy (2005, with T. Hatton) and Globalization in Historical Perspective (2003, edited with M. Bordo and A. M. Taylor).
Summary
The first volume of The Cambridge History of Capitalism delves deep into the historical roots of capitalism to provide a definitive account of its evolution. Adopting a wide geographical coverage and comparative perspective, a range of expert scholars trace capitalism's development from distant origins in ancient Babylon to modern economic growth.
