European Aristocracies And Colonial Elites ― Patrimonial Management Strategies And Economic Development, 15th-18th Centuries

With the exception of the English aristocracy, aristocracies and colonial elites running patrimonial management economic systems have generally been viewed as a parasitic class contributing little to process of economic growth. However in this collection, 14 papers challenging some of the commonplaces of this traditional view are presented by Janssens (Katholieke U., Belgium) and Yun-Casalilla (European U. Institute, Italy). Consisting of studies of aristocracies and elites in Northern, Southern, Central, and Eastern Europe and colonial America, the contributions consider such topics as the influence of family structures on management strategies; the impact of changes in legal concepts of property rights and the conditions of the credit market on aristocratic investment, expenditure, and consumption; and aristocratic and elite interest group influence on the state and its relationship to economic behavior. Annotation c2006 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Paul Janssens is Professor at the Katholieke Universiteit, Brussels, Belgium. BartolomAc Yun-Casalilla is Professor at the European University Institute, Florence, Italy.