The Slowing Down of Commercial Expansion Offset by Industrial Growth (c. 1551–1572)

Abstract

The strikingly slow increase of urban grain prices, which became evident in the thirties and was maintained until the fifties, clearly illustrates the growing importance of the importation of grain from France and still more from the Baltic in influencing its price in the towns of Western Brabant. The same is proved by the weak amplitude of the grain price cycles during this period ¹. The increase of population and its high density, the industrial boom in town and countryside, the massive supply of silver from Spain, all failed to stimulate a second phase in the price revolution of the Netherlands.