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26946 results in Economic history

Page 182 of 1348

  • 9 - The Structure of Bread Prices

  • from Part II - Industrial Organization: The Producers in a Regulated Industry
  • Jan de Vries, University of California, Berkeley
  • Book:
    The Price of Bread
    Published online:
    15 April 2019
    Print publication:
    25 April 2019, pp 224-248

  • Summary

    This chapter examines the impact of regulation on the structure of bread prices. Bakers produced several types of bread, ranging from the cheapest rye bread to the costliest white (wheat) bread. The price differentials among these bread types grew under the new regulatory system, and came to differ regionally as well. This chapter examines the effects of taxation and policies of cross-subsidization on the price structure, and ends by noting the sudden change in price structure occasioned by the end of regulation in the nineteenth century.

  • 5 - The Dutch “Peculiar Institution”

  • from Part I - The Regulatory Regime: Protecting the Consumer and Strengthening the State
  • Jan de Vries, University of California, Berkeley
  • Book:
    The Price of Bread
    Published online:
    15 April 2019
    Print publication:
    25 April 2019, pp 115-144

  • Summary

    This chapter focuses on Dutch fiscal policy. The Dutch Republic was unique in it heavy taxation of bread. This tax took the form of an excise on the milling of grain. Consequently both milling and baking became subject to strict regulation in order to minimize tax evasion. The tax was raised over time to become the largest single source of revenue for the state. The milling excise is examined from the perspective of optimal tax theory. Consumer demand for bread, especially more costly types of bread, was such as to allow this tax to approximate an optimal tax. Enforcement in rural areas proved difficult, leading to a reform of the milling excise in the countryside that substantially increased revenue.

  • 11 - Choosing What to Eat in the Early Modern Era

  • from Part III - Consumer Welfare and Consumer Choice
  • Jan de Vries, University of California, Berkeley
  • Book:
    The Price of Bread
    Published online:
    15 April 2019
    Print publication:
    25 April 2019, pp 282-305

  • Summary

    This chapter addresses the question of whether price regulation succeeded in sheltering consumers during periods of crisis. The history of weekly and monthly bread prices is examined in order to identify periods of crisis and their intensity. This is done separately for the western and eastern provinces of the Dutch Republic. Crisis periods are shown to be few in number between 1580 and 1790, but common both before and afterward. It is also demonstrated, contrary to common opinion, that the regulatory system did very little to mitigate the severity of crises. The crises between 1580 and 1790 rarely threatened the wellbeing of social classes above the unskilled. Consequently, the Republic's towns developed policies to target relief to those in greatest need, and to avoid policies that lowered prices for the general population. This chapter also examines theories that link food policy to state building and state legitimacy. Most such theories appear to have only limited applicability to the Dutch Republic.

  • Conclusion

  • Jan de Vries, University of California, Berkeley
  • Book:
    The Price of Bread
    Published online:
    15 April 2019
    Print publication:
    25 April 2019, pp 451-455

  • Summary

    Beginning in the 1770s, a theoretical critique of the Dutch regulatory-fiscal regime began to emerge. Adam Smith puzzled over Dutch policies and the Classical critique was adopted, opportunistically, by the Patriot political movement in the Revolutionary era. However, the regulatory-fiscal regime proved resilient. It not only survived the revolutionary upheavals but was strengtened in several respects. A new critique, led by political Liberals, succeeded in bringing both price regulation and bread taxation to an end in 1855. This chapter explores both the critics and the defenders, and concludes by exploring the effects of the 1855 "big bang" of deregulation.

  • FHR volume 26 issue 1 Cover and Front matter

  • Journal:
    Financial History Review / Volume 26 / Issue 1 / April 2019
    Published online by Cambridge University Press:
    25 April 2019, pp. f1-f3
    • Article
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  • 14 - Dutch Bread Price Regulation in International Perspective

  • from Part IV - Perspective and Demise
  • Jan de Vries, University of California, Berkeley
  • Book:
    The Price of Bread
    Published online:
    15 April 2019
    Print publication:
    25 April 2019, pp 375-406

  • Summary

    This book's original purpose was to assemble bread prices in order to develop an improved measurement of the standard of living. Here we turn to this original quesiton with a wealth of data and new information about changes in consumer behavior that call into question the conventional methodology for estimating the standard of living and making comparisons across societies. In a society experiencing "deep commercialization," the cost of living rises because basic commodities are replaced by processed foods, and simple, coarse foods by more refined and even luxurious foods. In this chapter the standard is living is examined from a demand-side approach rather than the conventional supply-side approach.

  • 15 - Bread Price Regulation Renewed and Abolished, 1776–1855

  • from Part IV - Perspective and Demise
  • Jan de Vries, University of California, Berkeley
  • Book:
    The Price of Bread
    Published online:
    15 April 2019
    Print publication:
    25 April 2019, pp 407-450

  • Summary

    This chapter returns to the broader European experience with bread price regulation. Dutch practice is compared with neighboring countries in order to determine whether the new regulatory policy spread to other countries, the taxation of bread was adopted elsewhere, and finally, whether these policies led to systematically higher bread prices in the Netherlands than elsewhere in Europe. We find that Dutch practice was gradually adopted elsewhere, but not everywhere. A few other places taxed bread, but not as heavily as in the Dutch Republic. Finally, bread prices elsewhere were generally lower than in the western Netherlands, but the differences were much smaller than the heavy taxes would predict. Explanations for this unexpected finding are offered.

Page 182 of 1348