------------ EH.NET BOOK REVIEW --------------
Published by EH.NET (March 2007)

Paul Janssens and Bartolom??? Yun-Casalilla, editors, _European 
Aristocracies and Colonial Elites: Patrimonial Management Strategies 
and Economic Development, 15th-18th Centuries_. London: Ashgate 
Publishing, 2005. x + 282 pp. $100 (hardcover), ISBN: 0-7546-5459-1.

Reviewed for EH.NET by Carlos ???lvarez-Nogal, Department of Economic 
History, Universidad Carlos III de Madrid.


The aristocracy does not normally appear in analyses of economic 
growth for the pre-industrial period. More attention has usually been 
paid to the peasantry, a much larger and more homogeneous group. 
Before the Industrial Revolution, agriculture was the dominant 
activity employing most of the population. Historians interested in 
social or political areas had studied the nobility but little 
attention had been paid to its economic dimension. This may have been 
because the aristocracy was seen as a parasitic class or a 
rent-seeking group whose mere existence stood in the way of economic 
growth.

Paul Janssens, Professor at the Katholieke Universiteit, Brussels, 
and Bartolom??? Yun-Casalilla, Professor at the European University 
Institute, Florence, remind us, in this magnificent collection of 
essays written by experts in the field, that the economic importance 
of the aristocracy under the ancien r???gime was due to their 
influential position in the institutional framework of society rather 
than simply to the number of aristocrats. Aside from the way in which 
wealth was distributed in that period, the aristocracy controlled 
most of the factors of production and, in addition, enjoyed a 
dominant position in the political institutions of the young European 
states. This meant that they were able to play a vital role in the 
development or lack of development of these societies.

This book brings this important social class into the debate 
surrounding economic growth and the prerequisites of the Industrial 
Revolution. It focuses on various European aristocracies and colonial 
elites and evaluates the strategies behind the decisions taken. The 
point of view adopted is that of supply, seeing aristocrats as 
investors in agriculture and other sectors or as innovators in the 
field of management of patrimonies, rather than taking the angle of 
demand and considering the aristocracy as wealthy consumers. Their 
contribution to economic growth is studied as if they were 
entrepreneurs taking or missing opportunities. Their influence in the 
establishment of property rights and behind advances in the workings 
of the market is also analyzed.

The book addresses three large questions. Were these large fortunes 
managed with maximization of profits or with socio-political criteria 
in mind? Did this situation change over the period under study? How 
and to what extent did change or lack of change affect economic 
performance in these societies?

One of the most interesting aspects of this book, despite the 
enormous difficulties involved, is the attempt to address these 
questions from a comparative point of view including as many 
countries and regions as possible. This approach leads to the 
conclusion that no single aristocratic model in the pre-industrial 
period existed and neither is it possible to offer a general model to 
explain its behavior.

Institutions are central to all the studies in this volume. There is 
no doubt about the influence of the aristocracy on the workings and 
development of the states during the ancien r???gime but, at the same 
time, the huge effect which the norms and traditions present in each 
society had on their behavior cannot be denied. For example, 
aristocracies became more important where crown estates and 
ecclesiastical properties were sold or redistributed as happened in 
England, France, Holland, Poland and Venice compared to regions like 
Portugal, Austria, Spain, Naples and Prussia where royal and 
ecclesiastical properties survived. On the other hand, the 
accumulation of national stocks of capital in the hands of commercial 
and industrial elites instead of in aristocratic hands would diminish 
the macro-economic significance of the aristocracy and lead the 
privileged group to make strategic changes.

Patrick O'Brien highlights three main areas present in many of the 
studies included in this book: the share of capital stock under noble 
control, the strategies and policies pursued by rich families for 
managing their patrimonies and the openness of aristocracies to 
talent and enterprise from outside their traditional networks.

The differences between the different European aristocracies in each 
of these areas are vital in an understanding of the influences of 
these groups on the economy. For example, the high proportion of real 
estate in the hands of the English aristocracy during the Industrial 
Revolution, noted by Robert Allen, allowed access to cheaper finance 
than that enjoyed by the rest of society. This explains the active 
investment of the landed classes in the non-agricultural sector, 
paving the way for a rapid industrialization of the island.

The book invites the reader to draw his or her own conclusions, in 
the light of the studies included, regarding the question of whether 
the differences between European aristocracies and ruling elites can 
explain the paths towards success or failure followed by each country 
before and during the Industrial Revolution.

The studies included in the book are organized geographically: 
Northern, Southern, Central and Eastern Europe and Colonial America 
(British North American, Peruvian and Brazilian colonial elites). The 
collection contains an introduction and fifteen chapters, each of 
which would deserve a review in its own right. The first is a general 
approach by Yun-Casalilla and the book closes with some 
considerations by O'Brien. While acknowledging the significant role 
played by the European aristocracy, the book avoids the error of 
"overcoming the prejudices by making the ancient r???gime nobles into 
standard-bearers of progress, modernization and economic growth."

This collection of essays is an excellent first step but it also 
reveals that further research, measurement and analysis is needed 
before economic historians can begin to evaluate possible positive or 
negative contributions of the aristocracy to variations in national 
growth rates across Europe.


Carlos ???lvarez-Nogal is Assistant Professor of Economic History at 
the Universidad Carlos III de Madrid. His research spans the areas of 
early modern economic history, monetary and financial topics. His 
books include _El cr???dito de la Monarqu???a Hisp???nica durante el 
reinado de Felipe IV_ (Junta de Castilla-Le???n, 1997) and _Los 
banqueros de Felipe IV y los metales preciosos americanos, 
(1621-1665)_ (Banco de Espa???a, 1997). He is currently working on 
international networks of bankers in the seventeenth century.

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