The Wheels of Commerce: Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century Volume 2

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Fascinating historical perspective on capitalism

The Wheels of Commerce: Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century Volume 2
Fernand Braudel
Manufacturer: HarperCollins
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Fascinating historical perspective on capitalism.......2003-01-15

Details of microscopic granularity make this tome a pleasure. A breadth of trivial details (did you know that 16th century Paris tried to dress streetwalkers in Indian calico to reduce the demand for this import? did you know speculators became wealthy gambling on the outcome of the Revolutionary War? did you know that herrings were bought before they were caught in 1688?) that presage the modern financial markets. If you enjoyed Extraordinary Popular Delusions and the Madness of Crowds by Charles MacKay, Bernard M. Baruch you will enjoy this dense work.

The Wheels of Commerce (Civilization and Capitalism: 15Th-18th Century -Volume 2)

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One of the best books I will ever read
Very Annalesesque
Capitaliism, trade and globalization explained
WOW!
Topology of the market

The Wheels of Commerce (Civilization and Capitalism: 15Th-18th Century -Volume 2)
Fernand Braudel
Manufacturer: University of California Press
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Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0520081153

Book Description

The subject of The Wheels of Commerce is the development of mechanisms of exchange--shops, markets, trade networks, and banking--in the pre-industrial stages of capitalism.

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One of the best books I will ever read.......2007-04-08

Wow, by far one of the best books that I have ever read. I usually do not like history because I prefer to be more proactive and immersed in today's world. But the clarity on our society's current situation that this book gives by examining the roots of the movement to capitalism is incredible and was so worth my time that I had to take a week's vacation off work in order to make sure that I could focus to read this. The writing conveys only one thing - complete clarity into the world today. It is an incredible opus; I loved it.

There is no easy answer to the challenges we humans face in organizing and creating a shared activity to enable the greatest overall productivity and happiness. The evolution of humanity during the early Renaissance years provides the explanation for where and why we are organized in this way today. Understanding this time in this way (through the lens of the economics of that time period) gives a much greater appreciation for the world today that we have constructed. The most core problems of humanity - social mobility, equitable distribution of resources, stability, and collective cooperation, have never (and may never) become solvable. This book explains these dynamics so eloquently that I wish I had time to read it again and again - much like a great adventure novel that as a kid you just wished would never end and felt a real loss once it did and you had to re-emerge into the real world around you.

Braudel is phenomenal in his depth of understanding about how society of the 15-18th centuries operated. I can't recommend it more highly.

Very Annalesesque.......2006-06-09

In The Wheels of Commerce, Fernand Braudel deftly blended history and economics with the result that neither suffers. His goal in this book, the second volume in his Civilization and Capitalism, 15th-18th Century, was "to analyse the machinery of exchange as a whole, from primitive barter up to and including the most sophisticated capitalism" (21). In the process of examining this machinery of exchange, Braudel also proposed an ambitious thesis concerning the origins of capitalism. The book itself is a monumental work, an impressive combination of statistical analyses and illustrations from primary sources.

Braudel's first two chapters, "The Instruments of Exchange" and "Markets and the Economy," investigated the role of circulation. In chapter one, he concentrated on the mechanisms by which goods (and money) were traded. Braudel explained that markets and shops were at the bottom of the world of commerce. Markets took place once or twice a week, and shops were open everyday. Fairs, the wholesale markets, were on the higher level. Participants traded large amounts of goods and settled their accounts at the end. Braudel pointed out the importance of fairs in the development of capitalism: "The fair itself created credit" (91). If one merchant had a negative trade balance with another merchant, he would either offer a bill of exchange (a promise of payment on another exchange) or defer payment with interest until another fair. Additionally, these bills of exchange could be sold to a third party if necessary, introducing speculation. The trading mechanisms of the fair were eventually consolidated into the large exchanges of cities like Amsterdam and London, and eventually these exchanges grew into the stock markets. Chapter two investigated the manner in which merchants engaged in trade. Braudel stressed the importance of trading circuits and the use of paper (especially in the form of bills of exchange) for profitability. One of the key ideas in this chapter is the role of distance on price. Price was not set solely by supply and demand, but was also affected by the distance the product had to travel. His insight into system was helpful. "Any capitalist market has a series of links in a chain, and somewhere near the middle there is a point higher and more remunerative than the rest" (193).

The next two chapters, "Capitalism Away from Home" and "Capitalism on Home Ground," dealt primarily with issues regarding production. Chapter three dealt with what could be considered the lower world of production. One of the key issues that Braudel explicated was the role of fixed and circulating capital. The fixed capital that was invested in production was tied up in equipment and other items, while the circulating capital was more liquid and included wages. Braudel also investigated the role of land in production and capitalism, noting: "The great landowner was not a capitalist, but he was a tool and a collaborator in the service of capitalism" (271). He also focused on the peculiarities of production in these pre-industrial years. In chapter four, Braudel investigated the higher world of production. His explanation of the development of banking practices, which would fund production, was illuminating, as was his discussion on the development of companies from private family business to joint stock companies.

Though the book focused on capitalism's development in Europe, Braudel integrated discussions on other geographical locales as well. Braudel did not present Europe as arriving at its capitalist system in a vacuum. He noted the role that other cultures had in aiding the formation of the European model, not just through trade, but also through Europe's adoption of foreign innovation. However, Braudel surprisingly downplayed the importance of double-entry book-keeping to the emergence of capitalism. He asserted that the practice did not spread quickly and was not universally adopted, giving notable examples (574).
Even though successful merchants were found all over the world during this time period (especially in Islamic lands that provided them with a favorable status), full-blown capitalism developed first in Europe. Braudel attempted to provide an explanation as to why this was the case. His thesis regarding this matter is the raison d'ýtre of the book. Braudel believed that three conditions were necessary for the emergence of capitalism. The first was a "vigorous and expanding market economy" (600). Braudel noted that many regions fulfilled this qualification. The second necessity, which hindered many prime candidates, was a strong hierarchy was necessary. This hierarchy encouraged the accumulation of wealth. Landed positions were not hereditary in India, China, and Islamic lands making the nobility's position precarious and the accumulation of wealth difficult. Braudel only mentioned two areas that fulfilled these first two necessities: Europe and Japan. However, Japan closed herself off to world trade, the third necessity. Braudel noted, "Long-distance trading ... was the only doorway to a superior profit level" (601). Braudel's case is a compelling one that must be addressed by anyone investigating this topic.

The Wheels of Commerce is immense, but immensely readable. Braudel portrayed for his reader a heady, exciting Europe, one in which the prime goal was to spend money faster than it could be made. However, even during his descriptions of the dizzying pace at which money was circulated, Braudel did not lose sight of his objective. His scope was large, but he remained precise in both style and purpose, obviating the befuddlement of the layperson (which I confess to being). The book is a balanced work, exhibiting a variety of historical methods. Braudel made extensive use of statistics and mathematical models (the book contains a plethora of charts and tables), but he also included numerous narratives regarding business practices of the time (demonstrating an astonishing knowledge of the primary sources). Because of the attention with which he supported his claims, historians of all stripes can admire this book.

Finally, the student of economic history should not overlook one of the finer aspects of The Wheels of Commerce. This book contains over 120 excellent illustrations from the 15th-18th centuries. The pictures, which vary from woodblock prints to oil paintings, depict the lives of those involved in commerce at the time. Not only do the abundant illustrations make this book a more attractive read, but also they provide the book with a certain level of completeness, giving the reader more tools by which he or she can comprehend the emergence of capitalism in Europe

Capitaliism, trade and globalization explained.......2006-05-17

There are various pretenders to the throne of explaining globalization, such as Thomas Friedman's recent The World Is Flat, but all such efforts seem shallow and pallid compared to the masterwork of the genre, Fernamd Braudel's trilogy Civilization & Capitalism, 15th - 18th Century (The Structures of Everyday Life (Volume 1), The Wheels of Commerce (Volume 2)
and The Perspective of the World (Volume 3)

I do not lightly suggest tackling almost 1,800 pages of reading, but there is simply no substitute (short of a master's degree) if you aspire to a true understanding of global trade's role in the social, political and economic history of our world. It is not a boring read--anything but, for Braudel's depth of research, breadth of knowledge and his appreciation for the limits of current scholarship are matchless. Where authors like Friedman incautiously grind whatever axe they set out, drawing upon work which supports their thesis, Bruadel is ever-cautious about drawing hard-and-fast conclusions from the data he has culled from archives' dusty pages.

What Braudel reveals is a world which has been disrupted by far-reaching trade for hundreds of years. Capital has flowed across the great oceans of our globe for far longer than most people realize, destroying local industries in favor of distant ones in the process. It is impossible to summarize such a rich, vast work, but reading even one of these volumes will give you a deep insight into the long history of globalization, and how entire industries and financial centers have been displaced time and again in the Arab Levant, in Asia, and in Europe. You will also come to understand the rise of European economic dominance, and how it cannot be so neatly attributed to guns, steel and germs, as appealing and powerful as Jared Diamond's thesis may be.

Braudel does not work to create over-arching explantions so much as present the archival facts he so assiduously assembled. (The books were written in the late 1970s; Braudel died in 1985 at the age of 83.) For example, he shows that prosperity, since at least the 1400s if not earlier, is inevitably found in those cities and regions where prices are highest. It is counter-intuitive at first--since shouldn't money go farther where prices are low?-- but the same is obviously true of our era. The most prosperous nations are those with the highest costs, and the poorest are those where prices are lowest.

At a minimum, this sheds light on the centuries-old exodus from rural to metropolis, and on the nature of prosperity itself. I recommend these volumes not just for their vast erudition but for the enjoyment gained from his unparalleled mastery of everyday life in distant lands and distant times. Not much has changed, it seems, except the speed of the ships and the communication between traders.

WOW!.......2005-01-22

I don't even LIKE history or economics...but I love this book.

In the course of researching some historical background for an English Lit paper, I ran across two of Braudel's books -- this was one of them.

It was so fascinating that I read the entire book (even though what I needed for the paper was a few pages); and then I went ahead and bought my own copy, plus others by this author.

Topology of the market.......2002-07-10

This is the second volume of Braudel¡¯s ¡®Civilization and Capitalism¡¯. The second volume deals with the market economy, while the first volume, ¡®Structures of Everyday Life¡¯ takes on infra-economy or material civilization. As I said on the review of the first volume, in the pre-industrialized societies, the market system is not the only form of resource allocation. The material civilization is the first layer of economy on the bottom, the market system is the second layer located above the first layer. The exchange or commerce was not natural economy but artificial economy in the jargon of the 18th C economics: Market is premised on the separation of production and consumption. Such a division is not natural, but is developed over long time. In this vein, the market is not natural at all. The market is the point in which material life and economic life meet each other. The market is the network. It links region to region, national economy to national economy. The form and scope of market has been evolved over time. When we track the forms of market, we could paint the history of capitalism. Nonetheless, Capitalism is often regarded as synonymous to market economy. But market is not unique to capitalism. But it goes without saying that capitalism can¡¯t exist without market. All economic activities under capitalism are carried out on the market. Changes in the form of market signals the changes of capitalism. When, for example, we talk about globalization, we have in mind the change of market based on national economy to global market. The second volume is about the topology of market. Based on the scope of space the market serves, we could trace out the path of capitalism since the 15th C. But market is not capitalism. To understand this point, you¡¯d better check the third volume, ¡®The Perspective of the World¡¯.

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The Wheels of Commerce: Civilization and Capitalism 15th - 18th Century Volume 2
Fernand Braudel
Manufacturer: Harper & Row Publishers
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000J1VPWC

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The Wheels of Commerce: Civilization and Capitalism: 15Th-18th Century, Volume 2)
Fernand Braudel
Manufacturer: HARPER & ROW
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000UX6MXQ

Civilization and Capitalism 15th - 18th CEntury 3 Volumes Vol1 The Structure of Everyday life Vol 2 The Wheels of Commerce Vol 3 The Perspective of the World

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Civilization and Capitalism 15th - 18th CEntury 3 Volumes Vol1 The Structure of Everyday life Vol 2 The Wheels of Commerce Vol 3 The Perspective of the World

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Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000H5YUS6

Civilization and Capitalism, 15th - 18th Century, Volume 2 (two): THE WHEELS OF COMMERCE

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Civilization and Capitalism, 15th - 18th Century, Volume 2 (two): THE WHEELS OF COMMERCE
Fernand Braudel
Manufacturer: Harper & Row - Perennial library
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback
ASIN: B000U6BNO6

The Wheels of Commerce Civilization & Capitalism 15th-18th Century Volume 2

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The Wheels of Commerce Civilization & Capitalism 15th-18th Century Volume 2
Braudel Fernand
Manufacturer: Harper & Row
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Binding: Hardcover
ASIN: B000UD4904

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Title: Direct Mail: Strategy & Creative.(Directory)
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This digital document is an article from Campaigns & Elections, published by Campaigns & Elections, Inc. on March 1, 2001. The length of the article is 4068 words. The page length shown above is based on a typical 300-word page. The article is delivered in HTML format and is available in your Amazon.com Digital Locker immediately after purchase. You can view it with any web browser.

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Title: Direct Mail: Strategy & Creative.(Directory)
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