Merchants and Profit in the Age of Commerce, 1680–1830

Pierre Gervais (1) , Yannick Lemarchand (2) , Dominique Margairaz (3)

1 CRAN - Centre de Recherche sur l'Amérique du Nord
2 LEMNA - Laboratoire d'économie et de management de Nantes Atlantique
3 IDHE - Institutions et Dynamiques Historiques de l'Economie

Merchant activity across Europe, America and China was vital to economic growth during the long eighteenth century. Using a unique data set from accounts and correspondence, contributors show the fragmented nature of merchant activity and the importance of trust-based social and cultural networks. Case studies from the ‘Age of Commerce’ include Franco-British attempts to recall Chinese debt in 1779–80, the price signals between Spain and colonial South America and the risk avoidance strategies of tobacco-planters in early national period America.

Mots clés: Merchant; Early Modern Markets; Profit; Prices; Quality scales; Eighteenth century; France; Spain; British colonies; Spanish Empire; China

Domaines: Histoire; Economies et finances

Pierre Gervais, Yannick Lemarchand, Dominique Margairaz. Merchants and Profit in the Age of Commerce, 1680–1830. 2014. ⟨halshs-01150351⟩