Discussion of Miskimin paper

This paper is the latest contribution to the now considerable literature dealing with the putative depression in the later middle ages. In particular, Harry Miskimin's present monetary analysis is an extension of the recent exchange in the pages of the Economic History Review, involving him and his colleague, Robert Lopez, and their dissentient, Carlo Cipolla. The striking characteristic of this stimulating reconstruction is the reconciliation of some of the seemingly inconsistent or dissonant data adduced by previous writers. While every effort to clarify the operative factors and to establish cause and effect relationships in this disputed subject of Renaissance economic patterns is gratefully received, and while I personally am inclined toward the “depressionist” or at least “stagnationist” position in the current controversy, I am regretfully not entirely satisfied with the argument of this paper. My unease can be explained in part and, I would hope, will be communicated, by a few observations relating to the graphs which illustrate the text.