Managing the Wealth of Nations
Political Economies of Change in Preindustrial Europe
By Philipp Robinson Rössner
Published
Mar 27, 2023Page count
300 pagesISBN
978-1529211221Dimensions
234 x 156 mmImprint
Bristol University PressPublished
Mar 27, 2023Page count
300 pagesISBN
978-1529211245Imprint
Bristol University PressPublished
Mar 27, 2023Page count
300 pagesISBN
978-1529211245Imprint
Bristol University Press
Managing the Wealth of Nations
‘Commerce and manufactures gradually introduced order and good government,’ wrote Adam Smith in his Wealth of Nations, ‘and with them, the liberty and security of individuals.’ However, Philipp Robinson Rössner shows how, when looked at in the face of history, it has usually been the other way around.
This book follows the development of capitalism from the Middle Ages through the industrial revolution to the modern day, casting new light on the areas where premodern political economies of growth and development made a difference. It shows how order and governance provided the foundation for prosperity, growth and the wealth of nations.
Written for scholars and students of economic history, this is a pioneering new study that debunks the neoliberal origin myth of how capitalism came into the world.
"Rössner brilliantly challenges the Anglocentrism of European economic history and reveals the critical contribution that German speakers made to debates on the sources of national wealth." Prasannan Parthasarathi, Boston College
Philipp Robinson Rössner is Professor of Early Modern History at the University of Manchester.
1. Inventing Dynamics: Political Economies of Money, Markets and Manufacturing, 1300s–1800s
2. Governing the Future: Capitalism’s Early Modern Temporalities and the Origins of Growth
3. The Myth of the Myopic State: Governing Economy and the Politics of Economic Change, 1250s–1850s
4. Configuring Free Markets: A Deeper History of Laissez-Faire
5. Money and the Rise of Modern Capitalism
6. Velocity! Money, Circulation and Economic Development, c.1250–1850
7. Creating Wealth: Homo Manufacturabilis and the Wealth of Nations
8. Manufacturing Wealth: Industrial Policy and the Rise of the European Economy, 1350–1850s
Epilogue: State Capacity and Capitalism from Cain to Keynes: Money, Markets and Manufacturing
