An international board of contributors underline the diversity in the economic experiences of early modern Europeans, and suggest how this variety might be the foundation of a new conception of economic and social change.

Early Modern Capitalism takes stock of recent research on the development of the economic growth, as well as the development of capital and labour markets during the centuries that preceded the Industrial Revolution. An international collection of contributors discuss such issues as the nature of the Late Medieval Crisis that has typically been portrayed as the birth of European Capitalism, and an examination of the quantitive dimensions of econmomic growth, as well as more specifically the consumption of energy in early modern Europe. Issues such as proto-industry, proletarianization, and labour mobility are also addressed. This book underlines the diversity in the economic experiences of early modern Europeans and suggests how this variety might be the foundation of a new conception of economic and social change, to replace the traditional dichotomies of pre-industrial versus industrial, or pre-modern versus modern/post-modern.

1. Early modern capitalism: an introduction Maarten Prak
Part I. Economic Growth
2. The late medieval crisis as an 'integration crisis' S.R. Epstein
3. The energy basis for early modern growth Paolo Malanima
4. Early modern economic growth: a survey of the European economy 1500-1800 Jan Luiten van Zanden
5. Pre-industrial economic growth and the transition to an
industrial economy Edwin Horlings
Part II. Capital and Labour
6. International capital markets and their users, 1450-1750 Ian Blanchard
7. Labour and proto-industry: big questions and micro answers Jurgen Schlumbohm
8. Problems of the family economy: peasant economy, domestic production, and labour markets in pre-industrial Europe Ad Knotter
9. Mobilization of labour in early modern Europe Jan Lucassen
10. Economic growth before and after the Industrial Revolution: a modest proposal Jan de Vries