Cities of Commerce: The Institutional Foundations of International Trade in the Low Countries, 1250-1650 Hardcover - 2013 - 1st Edition

From the rear cover

"This richly detailed book offers an important and critical reexamination of the commercial revolution in Northern Europe. Combining key insights from law and institutional economics with a sharp historical narrative, Gelderblom produces a striking new understanding of how formal and informal institutions propelled the European economy forward."--Jean-Laurent Rosenthal, California Institute of Technology

"Cities of Commerce is a major contribution to the debate about the role of institutional change in facilitating growth and commercial expansion. Few writers before Gelderblom have attempted to discuss the problem of commercial dislocation over such a long period."--David Ormrod, University of Kent

"Illuminating. This book advances the argument that intercity competition over long-distance trade in premodern Europe took the form of legal changes favorable to commerce. This important argument provides new insight into European history and the institutional foundations of the rise of the West. Gelderblom is a first-rate scholar."--Avner Greif, Stanford University

"Cities of Commerce is vigorously argued, well documented, and clearly presented. It will be a much read and debated contribution to a very active field of inquiry in economic history."--Jan deVries, University of California, Berkeley

Media reviews

Citations

• Choice, 01/01/2014, Page 0