This volume takes stock of recent research on economic growth, as well as the development of capital and labour markets, during the centuries that preceded the Industrial Revolution. The book underlines the diversity in the economic experiences of early modern Europeans and suggests how this variety might be the foundation of a new conception of economic and social change.

1. Early modern capitalism: an introduction Maarten Prak Part I. Economic Growth 2. The late medieval crisis as an 'integration crisis' S.R. Epstein 3. The energy basis for early modern growth Paolo Malanima 4. Early modern economic growth: a survey of the European economy 1500-1800 Jan Luiten van Zanden 5. Pre-industrial economic growth and the transition to an industrial economy Edwin Horlings Part II. Capital and Labour 6. International capital markets and their users, 1450-1750 Ian Blanchard 7. Labour and proto-industry: big questions and micro answers Jürgen Schlumbohm 8. Problems of the family economy: peasant economy, domestic production, and labour markets in pre-industrial Europe Ad Knotter 9. Mobilization of labour in early modern Europe Jan Lucassen 10. Economic growth before and after the Industrial Revolution: a modest proposal Jan de Vries