IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/bla/ehsrev/v63y2010i3p638-663.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

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

Author

Listed:
  • 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.

Suggested Citation

  • 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
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1468-0289.2009.00503.x
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/j.1468-0289.2009.00503.x?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Nicholas Alexander & Gary Akehurst, 1998. "Introduction: The Emergence of Modern Retailing, 1750-1950," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 1-15.
    2. Christina Fowler, 1998. "Changes in Provincial Retail Practice during the Eighteenth Century, with Particular Reference to Central-Southern England," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 40(4), pages 37-54.
    3. Dries Lyna & Ilja Van Damme, 2009. "A strategy of seduction? The role of commercial advertisements in the eighteenth-century retailing business of Antwerp," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 51(1), pages 100-121.
    4. Roy Church, 1999. "New perspectives on the history of products, firms, marketing, and consumers in Britain and the United States since the mid-nineteenth century 1," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 52(3), pages 405-435, August.
    5. Carole Shammas, 1994. "The decline of textile prices in England and British America prior to industrialization," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 47(3), pages 483-507, August.
    6. Berger, Ronald M., 1980. "The Development of Retail Trade in Provincial England, ca. 1550–1700," The Journal of Economic History, Cambridge University Press, vol. 40(1), pages 123-128, March.
    7. Vries,Jan de, 2008. "The Industrious Revolution," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521719254, October.
    8. Patrick Wallis, 2008. "Consumption, retailing, and medicine in early‐modern London," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 61(1), pages 26-53, February.
    9. Jon Stobart & Andrew Hann, 2004. "Retailing Revolution in the Eighteenth Century? Evidence from North-West England," Business History, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 46(2), pages 171-194.
    10. Donald Woodward, 1985. "“Swords into Ploughshares”: Recycling in Pre-Industrial England," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 38(2), pages 175-191, May.
    11. Vries,Jan de, 2008. "The Industrious Revolution," Cambridge Books, Cambridge University Press, number 9780521895026, October.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    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.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jon Stobart & Lucy Bailey, 2018. "Retail revolution and the village shop, c. 1660–1860," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 71(2), pages 393-417, May.
    2. Wallis, Patrick, 2010. "Exotic drugs and English medicine: England’s drug trade, c.1550-c.1800," Economic History Working Papers 28577, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.
    3. 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.
    4. 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.
    5. Paul Slack, 2009. "Material progress and the challenge of affluence in seventeenth‐century England," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 62(3), pages 576-603, August.
    6. Kristina Lilja & Pernilla Jonsson, 2015. "Clothes as a store of value: second-hand trade in a Swedish small town, 1830-1900," Working Papers 15007, Economic History Society.
    7. Rabier, Christelle, 2013. "Introduction: the crafting of medicine in the early industrial age," LSE Research Online Documents on Economics 52751, London School of Economics and Political Science, LSE Library.
    8. Clark, Gregory, 2013. "1381 and the Malthus delusion," Explorations in Economic History, Elsevier, vol. 50(1), pages 4-15.
    9. Masayuki Tanimoto, 2010. "Housework and the Consumption History in pre-war Japan," CIRJE F-Series CIRJE-F-779, CIRJE, Faculty of Economics, University of Tokyo.
    10. Boško Mijatović & Branko Milanović, 2021. "The real urban wage in an agricultural economy without landless farmers: Serbia, 1862–1910," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 74(2), pages 424-448, May.
    11. Palma, Nuno, 2018. "Money and modernization in early modern England," Financial History Review, Cambridge University Press, vol. 25(3), pages 231-261, December.
    12. David Cassass, 2013. "Adam Smith's Republican Moment: Lessons for Today's Emancipatory Thought," Economic Thought, World Economics Association, vol. 2(2), pages 1-1, October.
    13. Daniel Barbezat, 2011. "The Economic History of European Growth," Chapters, in: Gail M. Hoyt & KimMarie McGoldrick (ed.), International Handbook on Teaching and Learning Economics, chapter 51, Edward Elgar Publishing.
    14. Leticia Arroyo Abad & Nuno Palma, 2020. "The Fruits of El Dorado: The Global Impact of American Precious Metals," Working Papers 0179, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).
    15. Jane Humphries & Jacob Weisdorf, 2019. "Unreal Wages? Real Income and Economic Growth in England, 1260–1850," The Economic Journal, Royal Economic Society, vol. 129(623), pages 2867-2887.
    16. Jaco Zuijderduijn & Tine De Moor, 2013. "Spending, saving, or investing? Risk management in sixteenth-century Dutch households," Economic History Review, Economic History Society, vol. 66(1), pages 38-56, February.
    17. Meissner, Christopher M., 2014. "Growth from Globalization? A View from the Very Long Run," Handbook of Economic Growth, in: Philippe Aghion & Steven Durlauf (ed.), Handbook of Economic Growth, edition 1, volume 2, chapter 8, pages 1033-1069, Elsevier.
    18. Sascha O. Becker & Francesco Cinnirella & Ludger Woessmann, 2013. "Does women's education affect fertility? Evidence from pre-demographic transition Prussia," European Review of Economic History, European Historical Economics Society, vol. 17(1), pages 24-44, February.
    19. Mark Koyama, 2014. "The law & economics of private prosecutions in industrial revolution England," Public Choice, Springer, vol. 159(1), pages 277-298, April.
    20. Ulrich Pfister & Jana Riedel & Martin Uebele, 2012. "Real Wages and the Origins of Modern Economic Growth in Germany, 16th to 19th Centuries," Working Papers 0017, European Historical Economics Society (EHES).

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:bla:ehsrev:v:63:y:2010:i:3:p:638-663. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/ehsukea.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.