Routledge Explorations in Economic History
About the Book Series
This long established series provides a platform for books which break new ground in the understanding of the development of the modern world economy. Equally rooted in economics and history, the series is not limited to any particular period or region. Individual titles focus on particular countries, key industries, themes, or international economic relations.
Urbanization without Economic Growth in Pre-Industrial Italy: Rome’s Long Shadow
1st Edition
By Luigi Oddo
September 30, 2026
Why did some of Europe’s most urbanized pre-industrial societies industrialize relatively late? Conventional theories link urbanization to economic growth. Yet European history presents a paradox: early industrializers were not the most urbanized, while highly urbanized regions often stagnated. ...
Merchants in Global Economic History: Intermediation, Information, Trust, and Exchange
1st Edition
By Toshiaki Tamaki
July 21, 2026
In this book, Toshiaki Tamaki analyzes merchant and entrepreneurial from ancient times to the twenty-first century, arguing that these intermediaries drive global market expansion and institutional development, as they help to connect distant regions and reduce information asymmetry. The book ...
An Economic History of Spanish Industrialization
1st Edition
Edited
By Jordi Catalan, Marc Prat
June 03, 2026
Spain belongs to the group of European peripheral economies where the diffusion of the British Industrial Revolution failed during the 19th century, as Professor Jordi Nadal underlined half a century ago. This book presents the analysis of leading economic historians on the long-term economic ...
Economic History of the European Energy Industry: Lighting up Western Europe, 19th to 21st centuries
1st Edition
Edited
By Alberte Martínez-López, Jesús Mirás-Araujo, Nuria Rodríguez-Martín
May 22, 2026
Global climate change and the war in Ukraine have put energy back on the agenda for Europe in a way that has not been seen since the oil crisis of the 1970s. But the economics and business of supplying energy to Europe has a long and rich history going back to the nineteenth century. This book ...
The Economy of Ancient Egypt: State, Administration, Institutions
1st Edition
By Mahmoud Ezzamel
May 22, 2026
Taking ancient records as the starting point for analysis, this book theorises the state, administration and economy of ancient Egypt. The Egyptian state is theorised as an administrative field of material and symbolic powers with emphasis upon the latter because it has received scant attention in ...
Colonial Commodities in Historical Capitalism: Brazil for Export
1st Edition
Edited
By Gustavo Acioli Lopes, Leonardo Marques, Felipe Souza Melo
February 06, 2026
From the role of sugar in the early history of the colonial era to coffee in the long nineteenth century, commodities have played a crucial role in the development of the Brazilian economy. Drawing on the history of commodities approach, this book explores both the external and internal commodity ...
The Development of European Competition Policy: Social Democracy and Regulation
1st Edition
Edited
By Brian Shaev, Sigfrido M. Ramírez Pérez
December 26, 2025
This book considers a central issue of our time: the relationship between the macroeconomic objectives of political parties in democratic countries and the legal framework of market economies. The impressive panel of contributors examines social-democratic policies on cartels, market concentration ...
Inequality in Preindustrial Latin America: Economic and Social Patterns
1st Edition
Edited
By María Inés Moraes, Amílcar E. Challú
December 02, 2025
Inequality in Preindustrial Latin America is a groundbreaking examination of economic and social disparities in the region, spanning from pre-Columbian times to the nineteenth century. This comprehensive volume with contributions of leading scholars is divided into two parts, offering a ...
Public Finances of a European Dictatorship: Portugal under the Estado Novo Regime
1st Edition
By Ricardo Ferraz
November 28, 2025
Contributing to the renewed interest in economic history in the role played by peripheral or smaller countries, this book provides a detailed analysis of Portuguese public finances during the Estado Novo regime (1933–1974) – a period marked by dictatorship, industrialization, internationalization, ...
Health, Nutrition and Inequality in Latin America: An Anthropometric History
1st Edition
Edited
By Manuel Llorca-Jaña, José Miguel Martínez-Carrión, Ricardo Salvatore
September 30, 2025
Drawing on anthropometric data, this book examines the evolution of biological living standards of Latin American populations and evaluates the inequality of nutrition and health in the region in the modern era. Utilising data from the 19th and 20th centuries, and providing broad coverage of Latin ...
The Political Economy of Interwar Foreign Investment: Economic Nationalism and French Capital in Poland, 1918–1939
1st Edition
By Jerzy Łazor
September 29, 2025
France was interwar Poland’s main ally, and the biggest source of the country’s foreign investment. The two roles were closely connected: Paris used its position in Warsaw to win preferential treatment for its firms, while Polish authorities depended on France to finance their modernization ...
A Global Financial History of Oil Crises
1st Edition
By Carlo Edoardo Altamura
August 22, 2025
In this book, Altamura analyses the oil shocks of 1973 and 1979, considering their impact on the world economy and subsequent reactions to the global instability. In terms of actors, the focus is on how international organisations such as the IMF, World Bank and OECD responded to the crisis, as ...