Economic Development in Early Modern France: The Privilege of Liberty, 1650-1820

Privilege has long been understood as the constitutional basis of Ancien R gime France, legalizing the provision of a variety of rights, powers and exemptions to some, whilst denying them to others. In this fascinating new study however, Jeff Horn reveals that Bourbon officials utilized privilege as an instrument of economic development, freeing some sectors of the economy from pre-existing privileges and regulations, while protecting others. He explores both government policies and the innovations of entrepreneurs, workers, inventors and customers to uncover the lived experience of economic development from the Fronde to the Restoration. He shows how, influenced by Enlightenment thought, the regime increasingly resorted to concepts of liberty to defend privilege as a policy tool. The book offers important new insights into debates about the impact of privilege on early industrialization, comparative economic development and the outbreak of the French Revolution.

Author: Jeff Horn
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Published: 05/04/2017
Pages: 327
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 0.97lbs
Size: 9.00h x 6.00w x 0.69d
ISBN: 9781108407052

About the Author
Horn, Jeff: - Jeff Horn is Professor of History at Manhattan College, New York. He is the author or editor of The Industrial Revolution: History, Documents, and Key Questions (2016), Reconceptualizing the Industrial Revolution (with Leonard N. Rosenband and Merritt Roe Smith, 2010), The Industrial Revolution: Milestones in Business History (2007), The Path Not Taken: French Industrialization in the Age of Revolution, 1750-1830 (2006), and Qui parle pour la nation? Les élections et les élus de la Champagne méridionale, 1765-1830 (2004). Horn was president of the Western Society for French History in 2013-14. His research has been supported by the US National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Science Foundation, New York University's Faculty Research Network, Manhattan College, and Stetson University, Florida.