The evolution of markets in early modern Europe, 1350-1800: A study of grain prices

This paper attempts to establish the trend of market development in Europe in the centuries before the industrial revolution, by applying three different measures of market integration to a compilation of monthly and annual price data. In contrast to much of the existing work, which suggests that markets generally improved during this time, the findings propose that markets were as well integrated in the fifteenth century as in the late eighteenth century. In between these two times, markets are found to have suffered a severe contraction. These results provide a challenge to our current thoughts on economic growth.