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The Unmaking of the Mediterranean Trade Hegemony: International Trade Rivalry and the
Commercial Revolution
Author(s): Richard T. Rapp
Reviewed work(s):
Source: The Journal of Economic History, Vol. 35, No. 3 (Sep., 1975), pp. 499-525
Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Economic History Association
Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/2119555 .
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THE JOURNALOF ECONOMICHISTORY
for the decade 1620-1630, when a Venetian laborer was paid about 41 sold per day,
an English building tradesmanwas paid the equivalent of between 17 and 31 Vene-
tian sold. English masters received roughly the equivalent of 25 to 37 soldi while
the Venetian master was paid 66 soldi. These comparisons,of course, tell us nothing
about comparative purchasing power.
508 Rapp
consumptiontaxes and levies on terrafermareal estate. By the 1630's
taxes on commerceand manufacturinghad shrunkto an 11 percent
share of state revenues. Nevertheless,high customs duties and ex-
cises during the crucial years of competitionearlier in the century
left Venetian products high and dry when confronted by state-
subsidized northern commodities.During the years 1588-1630 an
average of 42 percent of the total receipts of the woolen industry
of the city of Venice were given over as tax payments (Table 3)1
This more than any other institutionalor market circumstance-
guild conservatism,backwardnessin the carrying trade, high in-
surancerates (that is, the piracy problem)-made Venetian wares
uncompetitive during the crucial years of Mediterraneancom-
petition.,2
Despite these problemsVenice still had certain advantages. As
an industrialpower it was the most diversifiedand most technically
advanced city-economyin the sixteenth century. Its reputationfor
high quality was a strong selling point, and, in the Mediterranean
market,locational advantages,and establishedroutes for reaching
both supplies of raw materialsand selling outlets made it a classic
matureeconomy."
In the early 16ws northernmanufacturersencouragedthe trans-
plantingof Venetiancrafttechniquesand began exportingtheirnew
products to the southLTey practiced all forms of smuggling i
order to evade tariffs,and to gain admittanceto markets (such as
Venice itself) that normally forbade their entry. Also, smuggling
enabledconterfeit merchandiseto pass undetectedinto the market-
place. Many thousands of pseudo-Venetiancloths came onto the
selling tables frommost unlikelyplaces of origin.
The chief stratagemof cloth smugglers was to imitate typical
Venetiansigns and markson the head and the selvage of the bolt.
These signs were supposed to guaranteethe quality and origin of
the cloth. Imitation Venetian cloths were hidden inside bales of
panni bass, crude countrywoolens, or, on occasion,they were car-
ried into port as permissibleforeign cloths with appropriatemark-
28 Here we see that before accrediting the Reed/North/Thomas argument, which
isolates transaction costs differentials as a source of North Atlantic economic growth,
some measure of the reduced costs of using the market will have to be offered in
evidence. It seems clear, at this point, that differences in tax policy alone, stemming
from differences in institutional background, go further in explaining the relative
noncompetitiveness of the Venetians than any differences in transaction costs or
market (iffciency.
MediterraneanTrade 509
T4nz 3
DISTRIBUTION OF REVENUES FROM WOOL CLOTH MANUFACTURE
IN VENICE, 1588-1630
Ducats Per
Description Cloth Percent
To the public coffers, (including import duties on raw materials,
manufacturingtaxes, taxes on the woolworking guilds, and export
duties) g33 42
To the principal woolworkers, (beaters, washers, combers,
weavers, and shearers) 16 20
To other groups of workers and other manufacturing costs
(spinning, Gig, 18 23
To the wool fin 12 15
Average Price 79 100
Source: Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana, Ital. VII, Cod&MDCCXLI (9638). The
original document reads as follows:
CALCOLOdi quanto utile sia stata la Regola[tiolne: 1588 per la Pannina Venet~lalna
sud[ettja
Si fA nota, che dall'anno sudrett]o 1588 fino all' 1630 sono anni 42 si sono construtte
pezze di panno ottocento quarantamille, sono Araglgio]n di pezze vinti mille unanno
per l'altro, ode approfltono millioni sessantasei trecento essanta mille D 66360000
Per il pub[blilco a D 33 la pezza D 27 720 000
Per li Operarijcio6: Laneri, Tesser, e Cimadori a D 16 la pezza D 13 440 000
Per le manufatturedi tutti li altri sino aMavendita dell'pannine
compress anco la fatture delli tentori a D 18 la pezza D 15 120 000
Per li Mercanti a D 12 la pezza D 10 080 000
Millioni sessanta sei trecento sessanta mine Ducati D 66 360 000
The full document, entitled "Informationeger l'importante negotio del Lanificio di
questa citti" indicates that "per iI pubblico refers to public coffers.
THE CONSEQUENCES