MODERN EUROPE The Merchant Houses of Stockholm, c. 1640–1800: A Comparative Study of Early-Modern Entrepreneurial Behaviour. By Leos Müller. Uppsala: Uppsala University, 1998. Pp. 303

J. Thomas Lindblad

The Journal of Economic History, 2001, vol. 61, issue 3, 822-823

Abstract: What drove the entrepreneurs of early modern Europe? Short-run profit maximization, long-run business continuity, or aspirations of upward social mobility? Such questions increasingly attract the attention of a younger generation of economic historians focusing on the period before the Industrial Revolution. Leos Müller's study, which was defended as a doctoral dissertation at the University of Uppsala in Sweden, is a highly interesting specimen of this new trend in economic–historical research. One suspects that it was intended as a sequel to Kurt Samuelsson's De stora köpmanshusen i Stockholm 1730–1815 (Stockholm: Esselte, 1951), which considered the community of Stockholm merchants but lacked an analytical framework. The book now under review, by contrast, is exemplary in applying an explicit theoretical framework, relying on original primary materials, and stressing themes above individuals or events. This all makes for a systematic connection between empirical findings and theory. At the same time, however, it also provides illustrations of the bottlenecks and difficulties that the enterprising economic historian may come across.

Date: 2001
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