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Retail growth and consumer changes in a declining urban economy: Antwerp (1650–1750)

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  • BRUNO BLONDÉ
  • ILJA VAN DAMME

Abstract

This article examines the interplay between retail changes and transformations in the material culture of Antwerp, a provincial town in the southern Netherlands. We argue that major changes in the eighteenth‐century material culture and retail sector were not significantly linked to preconditions of economic growth and urbanization. The Antwerp ‘retail paradox’ is that of a shrinking economic horizon running parallel to material culture and retail transformations, usually connected to expanding urban economies and societies. Changing retail and consumer practices explain the growing and prospering retail sector, rather than a growing economy.

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  • Bruno Blondé & Ilja Van Damme, 2010. "Retail growth and consumer changes in a declining urban economy: Antwerp (1650–1750)," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 63(3), pages 638-663, August.
    • Handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:63:y:2010:i:3:p:638-663
    DOI: 10.1111/j.1468-0289.2009.00503.x
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    Cited by:

    1. Sheilagh Ogilvie, 2012. "Retail Ratios in the Netherlands, c. 1670 - c. 1815," Working Papers 2, Department of Economic and Social History at the University of Cambridge, revised 01 Jan 2012.
    2. van den Heuvel, Danielle & Ogilvie, Sheilagh, 2013. "Retail development in the consumer revolution: The Netherlands, c. 1670–c. 1815," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 69-87.
    3. Mattia Viale, 2024. "Stocks and flows: Material culture and consumption behaviour in early modern Venice (c. 1650–1800)," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 77(2), pages 416-443, May.

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