Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • 18 - The political economy of rising capitalism

  • Edited by Larry Neal, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Jeffrey G. Williamson, Harvard University, Massachusetts
  • Book:
    The Cambridge History of Capitalism
    Published online:
    05 March 2014
    Print publication:
    23 January 2014, pp 574-599

  • Summary

    Medieval Europe was literally built on the ruins left by the disintegrated Roman empire. But during that long period of recovery up to the early modern period Europe was transformed from an economic backwater into the most advanced region in the world. The medieval economy witnessed first the rise and then the decline of unfreedom, which is essentially the denial of the right of free contracting in markets. Serfdom was clearly associated with a concentration of ownership of land in the hands of the lay and ecclesiastical elites. The labor market had been growing continuously since the revival of the European economy and by the fourteenth century it was considerable. Money markets became increasingly well integrated over time. The medieval period was a period of slow productivity growth, but there is no evidence that productivity growth in the guild-run urban sector was slower than in the agrarian sector.