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.
The Swiss National Bank: An Unconventional History
1st Edition
By Mikael Huber
July 25, 2025
Echoing new trends in central banking history, this book traces the story of the Swiss National Bank from the end of World War II, going beyond monetary policy and inflation to explore the full scope of the bank’s activities. Drawing on extensive archival research, it examines the broader landscape...
Tourism and Economic Development: Southern Europe through the 20th Century
1st Edition
Edited
By Patrizia Battilani, Carlos Larrinaga, Donatella Strangio
June 30, 2025
By the end of the 19th century, there were already some countries in southern Europe whose economies benefitted from the arrival of tourists. But it was during the 20th century, and particularly after the Second World War, that the phenomenon of mass tourism arrived and dramatically impacted the ...
The Economy of Classical Athens: Organization, Institutions and Society
1st Edition
By Emmanouil M. L. Economou
May 06, 2025
In parallel to the development of democracy, the Athenians of the Classical period established a series of sophisticated economic institutions for the time through which they developed a maritime and commercially oriented economy. This book provides a thorough analysis of this transformation and ...
A History of the Global Wheat Trade: Actors and Dynamics (1840-1914)
1st Edition
Edited
By Marco Bertilorenzi, Carlo Fumian, Giovanni Gozzini
April 29, 2025
During the second half of the 19th century, a new global market for wheat came to the fore. Ever since, scarce and perishable food has been transformed into a modern global commodity, millions of tons of which is sold, bought, and transported across the oceans, providing the “daily bread” for a ...
An Economic History of the Spanish Welfare State: The Political Economy of Social Policy from the Mid-19th Century to the Present
1st Edition
By Sergio Espuelas
April 15, 2025
This monograph analyses the evolution of the welfare state in Spain from qualitative and quantitative perspectives. It basically relies on estimates of public social spending from 1850 to the present and offers comparisons with the rest of Europe. As a whole, the volume sheds light on the ...
Global Trade in the Early Medieval World: The Movement of Wealth, Spice and Medicine, 700–1100
1st Edition
By Toslima Khatun
February 19, 2025
Exploring the movement of peoples, perfumes, and spices across vast distances in this period of medieval history across Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, this book examines the role of Arab merchants in trade between and among the Caliphal and Carolingian elites. The study of the trade in perfumes...
Mining and Financial Imperialism: The Central African Copper Bonanza, c. 1890–1970
1st Edition
By Timo Särkkä
January 30, 2025
Mining finance houses were substantial public corporations with access to money markets in the City of London, the world’s leading capital market for mining. These institutions became dominant at the inception of colonial rule and, in varying forms, remained so throughout the twentieth century. ...
The Real Estate Market in the Roman World
1st Edition
Edited
By Marta García Morcillo, Cristina Rosillo-López
December 18, 2024
As it is today, the property market was a key and dynamic economic sector in Ancient Rome. Its study demands a deep understanding of Roman society, of the normative frameworks and the notions of wealth, value, identity and status that shaped individual and collective mentalities. This book takes a ...
The Sustainability and Development of Ancient Economies: Analysis and Examples
1st Edition
By Clement A. Tisdell, Serge Svizzero
December 18, 2024
Drawing on modern economic theory, this book provides new insights into the economic development of ancient economies and the sustainability of their development. The book pays particular attention to the economics of hunting and gathering societies and their diversity. New ideas are presented ...
An Economic History of the First German Unification: State Formation and Economic Development in a European Perspective
1st Edition
Edited
By Ulrich Pfister, Nikolaus Wolf
November 28, 2024
There is a striking chronological parallel between Germany’s transition from a post-Malthusian regime to modern economic growth and the formation of a modern nation-state between the late 1860s and the early 1880s, which culminated in the events of 1871.The central question of this book is whether ...
Property, Power and the Growth of Towns: Enterprise and Urban Development,1100-1500
1st Edition
By Catherine Casson, Mark Casson
November 28, 2024
Local enterprise, institutional quality and strategic location were of central importance in the growth of medieval towns. This book, comprising a study of 112 English towns, emphasises these key factors. Downstream locations on major rivers attracted international trade, and thereby stimulated the...
The Age of Global Economic Crises: (1929-2022)
1st Edition
Edited
By Juan Manuel Matés-Barco, María Vázquez-Fariñas
November 28, 2024
The frequency and repetition of economic crises over the last hundred years demands an analysis that allows us to discover the root causes of these situations and the problems they have generated in the world economy. This book investigates these cycles throughout the 20th and the early 21st ...