It is the aim of this paper to analyse the importance of (double-entry) bookkeeping for the economic development in Europe and its possible indirect influence on economic growth. Being one of the most important commercial techniques of the European merchants double-entry bookkeeping stayed in close relationship to the expansion of trade. So, the distribution of different bookkeeping techniques all over Western and Central Europe, took place, on one hand, through the extensive commercial contacts of Italian merchant-bankers with merchants of regions north of the Alps and because of the need of many non-Italian merchants to consolidate their commercial knowledge in Italy through specific studies and/or through acquiring practical knowledge. On the other, treaties on (double-entry) bookkeeping supported its diffusion. The study analyses examples of ledgers as ‘mirrors’ of their enterprises’ activities, and it will be shown how such ledgers served as instruments for reducing various risks of entrepreneurial engagement. As a result it will become clear that the knowledge of the technique of double-entry bookkeeping was one of the preconditions of the commercial and, later on, the industrial expansion of the Europeans, which made a significant difference to other merchant cultures in the world.
Leipzig University, Germany
Titolo del capitolo
Bookkeeping as a ‘key technology’ of pre-modern commerce. Its relevance for the eco-nomic development in Europe
Autori
Markus A. Denzel
Lingua
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0092-9.14
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Anno di pubblicazione
2023
Copyright
© 2023 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Titolo del libro
L’economia della conoscenza: innovazione, produttività e crescita economica nei secoli XIII-XVIII / The knowledge economy: innovation, productivity and economic growth, 13th to 18th century
Curatori
Giampiero Nigro
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Numero di pagine
456
Anno di pubblicazione
2023
Copyright
© 2023 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Editore
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0092-9
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0091-2
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0092-9
Collana
Datini Studies in Economic History
ISSN della collana
2975-1241
e-ISSN della collana
2975-1195