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- Title
Club goods and inefficient institutions: why Danzig and Lübeck failed in the early modern period.
- Authors
LINDBERG, ERIK
- Abstract
This article uses club theory to explain why two major medieval commercial centres declined in the early modern period. Lübeck and Danzig illuminate the difficulties experienced by old-style European towns where early modern guilds (and other privileged ‘corporations’) had a lot of political influence in making the transition to the new style of north-west European cities such as Amsterdam and Hamburg. The article refutes theories proposing that the special privileges awarded to a merchant elite enhanced economic growth; instead, it is argued that those privileges gave rise to ‘club goods’ that were beneficial only to a small number of merchants and were provided at the expense of society at large, resulting in economic decline.
- Subjects
GDANSK (Poland); LUBECK (Germany); EUROPE; GERMANY; POLAND; URBAN decline; GUILDS -- History; MERCHANTS; ELITE (Social sciences); HISTORY; COMMERCE
- Publication
Economic History Review, 2009, Vol 62, Issue 3, p604
- ISSN
0013-0117
- Publication type
Article
- DOI
10.1111/j.1468-0289.2009.00469.x