Abstract
Craft guilds were formal professional organizations in medieval and early modern Europe that operated in specific areas of industrial production. The primary objective of these organizations was to protect interests of their members. To achieve this goal, craft guilds engaged in a variety of activities from which obtaining legal monopolies over local production and trade within their crafts was the most important.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Epstein SR (1998) Craft guilds, apprenticeship, and technological change in preindustrial Europe. J Econ Hist 58(3):684–713
Epstein SR, Prak MR (eds) (2008) Guilds, innovation and the European economy, 1400–1800. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge
Gustafsson B (1987) The rise and economic behaviour of medieval craft guilds an economic-theoretical interpretation. Scand Econ Hist Rev 35(1):1–40
Hickson CR, Thompson EA (1991) A new theory of guilds and European economic development. Explor Econ Hist 28(2):127–168
Lucassen J, Prak MR (1998) Guilds and society in the Dutch Republic. In: Núñez CE (ed) Guilds, economy and society. Universidad de Sevilla, Sevilla, pp 63–78
Lucassen J, de Moor T, van Zanden JL (eds) (2008) The return of the guilds. Vol. 53. International Review of Social History, Suplement 16
Ogilvie S (2007) ‘Whatever is, is right’? Economic institutions in pre-industrial Europe. Econ Hist Rev 60(4):649–684
Ogilvie S (2014) The economics of guilds. J Econ Perspect 28(4):169–192
Prak MR, Lucassen J, Soly H, Lis C (eds) (2006) Craft guilds in the early modern low countries: work, power and representation. Ashgate, Aldershot
Richardson G (2005) Craft guilds and Christianity in late-medieval England: a rational-choice analysis. Ration Soc 17(2):139–189
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC, part of Springer Nature
About this entry
Cite this entry
Dolejší, D. (2019). Craft Guilds. In: Marciano, A., Ramello, G.B. (eds) Encyclopedia of Law and Economics. Springer, New York, NY. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7753-2_642
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4614-7753-2_642
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, New York, NY
Print ISBN: 978-1-4614-7752-5
Online ISBN: 978-1-4614-7753-2
eBook Packages: Economics and FinanceReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Business, Economics and Social Sciences