Cambridge Studies in Economic History - Second Series Series

This book explores how the institution of privilege and liberty shaped early modern economic development in France between 1650 and 1820.

The book explores the origins of capitalist institutions, delving into the moral, economic, and legal foundations that underlie their development. It examines the motivations and contexts that led to their establishment, offering a critical analysis of the assumptions that have shaped capitalist structures. Through this innovative study, readers gain insight into the interplay between ideology and economic practice, shedding light on the complexities of capitalism's evolution.

Russian rural history has long been based on a 'Peasant Myth', originating with nineteenth-century Romantics and still accepted by many historians today. In this book, Tracy Dennison shows how Russian society looked from below, and finds nothing like the collective, redistributive and market-averse behaviour often attributed to Russian peasants. On the contrary, the Russian rural population was as integrated into regional and even national markets as many of its west European counterparts. Serfdom was a loose garment that enabled different landlords to shape economic institutions, especially property rights, in widely diverse ways. Highly coercive and backward regimes on some landlords' estates existed side-by-side with surprisingly liberal approximations to a rule of law. This book paints a vivid and colourful picture of the everyday reality of rural Russia before the 1861 abolition of serfdom.