Money Driven Economy in Europe

In order to understand the role that a moneybased economy played in the development of Europe before 1700, it is useful to look at the history of economies based on media other than money. All discussions of money as a standard of value in history appear to begin as discussions of trade between tribes, peoples, nations. Wells says that trade in the ancient world "was almost entirely a barter trade. There was little or no credit or coined money" (1971, p. 164). But commodities became inconvenient to transport and trade between peoples, and by the time of the Roman conquests, metals, including "iron bars of fixed weight," silver, and especially gold, as "the most precious and therefore most portable of all metallic value standards," was the chief medium of exchange (1971, p. 165). A measure of value that could be transported easily from place to place made the orderly distribution of scarce goods from one locale to another increasingly efficient. But Wells notes that in the earliest days of transition from republic to empire, "mo

. . .
he Medici in Florence) and Germany (the Fuggers in Augsburg). Because nascent European governments both controlled rights to trade monopolies and required financing of their political ambitions, the connection between monied and political interests was quite intimate during the period. It is at this point that the phenomenon of emergent nationalism (e.g., of England, France, Germany), developed out of government by citystate (e.g., of Venice, Florence). Hayes, et al. describe the process for tracking trade and commerce in financial terms in a way that demonstrates the increasing rationalization and sophistication of commercerelated activities. National economic policy [13th15th century] was limited and did not preclude the continued economic development fostered by the relatively autonomous cities or citystates of the Netherlands, Germany, or Italy. It only foreshadowed the more consistent national mercantilism of the following century. . . . The discovery . . . of the Datini archives (13601410) has revealed a vast commercial enterprise organized with great sophistication, including doubleentry accounting (Hayes, et al., 1967, p. 271). Doubleentry accounting w
. . .

Some common words found in the essay are:
Europe West, Europe Renaissance, Germany Italy, Hundert Jewish, Roman Empire, Christian Catholic, Amsterdam Bourse, Hanseatic League, Gradually Renaissance, Florence Hayes, hayes et al, et al, hayes et, et al 1967, international trade, al 1967, commercialization europe, seventeenth century, greider 1987, burke 1978, standard value, 1978 218, burke 1978 218, al 1967 pp, money standard value,
Approximate Word count = 2476
Approximate Pages = 10 (250 words per page)

More Essays on Money Driven Economy in Europe