Economic Development in Early Modern France
The Privilege of Liberty, 1650–1820
Format:Paperback
Publisher:Cambridge University Press
Published:4th May '17
Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back
This book explores how the institution of privilege and liberty shaped early modern economic development in France between 1650 and 1820.
Focusing on the relationship between privilege and liberty, this is a major reinterpretation of economic development in early modern France. It sheds new light on early industrialization, the achievements of Louis XIV, the economics of the Enlightenment, the origins of the French Revolution and comparative economic development.Privilege has long been understood as the constitutional basis of Ancien Régime France, legalizing the provision of a variety of rights, powers and exemptions to some, whilst denying them to others. In this fascinating new study however, Jeff Horn reveals that Bourbon officials utilized privilege as an instrument of economic development, freeing some sectors of the economy from pre-existing privileges and regulations, while protecting others. He explores both government policies and the innovations of entrepreneurs, workers, inventors and customers to uncover the lived experience of economic development from the Fronde to the Restoration. He shows how, influenced by Enlightenment thought, the regime increasingly resorted to concepts of liberty to defend privilege as a policy tool. The book offers important new insights into debates about the impact of privilege on early industrialization, comparative economic development and the outbreak of the French Revolution.
'Horn's book is probably the fullest examination of eighteenth-century French trade and industry available in English … [it is] an impressive book.' Michael Sonenscher, The American Historical Review
'In this challenging book, Jeff Horn argues for a broader and more positive understanding of privilege. He views it as an institutional arrangement that early modern states resorted to in the furtherance of their economic goals. Privilege formed part and parcel of the policy known to researchers as mercantilism, which, in France, was espoused by Bourbon rulers and their advisers from the time of Colbert (1664–83) and was only dispensed with completely under Calonne in the 1780s.' P. M. Jones, European History Quarterly
'Economic Development in Early Modern France is an intrepid and thought-provoking intervention into scholarly debates about European economic history from the era of Louis XIV through the French Revolution. Today, most scholars agree that France's economy grew significantly, if unevenly, during the eighteenth century. Debates focus largely on questions of how economic development took place, in which sectors, and why. During this heyday of mercantilism, the royal government's intensive oversight of manufacturing and trade has often been represented as hindering innovation, discouraging entrepreneurialism, and undermining competitiveness. This study by Jeff Horn turns this conventional wisdom on its head by casting the state as the engine behind French economic development through its strategic application of privilege.' Lauren R. Clay, Enterprise and Society
ISBN: 9781108407052
Dimensions: 230mm x 152mm x 18mm
Weight: 480g
327 pages