The business history of the preindustrial world: Towards a comparative historical analysis

Figures & data

Table 1. Chronologic coverage of economic and business history journals, 2000–2016.

Period	Economic History		Business History		All Journals
Before 999	18	1.7%	4	0.3%	22	0.9%
1000–1499	81	7.5%	7	0.6%	88	3.8%
1500–1799	281	26.1%	79	6.4%	360	15.5%
1800–1899	410	38.1%	362	29.1%	772	33.3%
1900 and after	279	26.0%	757	60.9%	1,036	44.7%
All periods/method	6	0.6%	35	2.8%	41	1.8%
Total	1,075	100%	1,244	100%	2,319	100%

Source: Database. Under the label “Economic History” we group all articles in JEH and EHR. “Business History” comprises the articles in BH, BHR and E&S.

Table 2. Geographic coverage in economic and business history journals, 2000–2016.

Region	Pre-1800		Post-1800
Europe	298	63.4%	732	40.5%
British Isles	199	42.3%	332	18.4%
Rest of Europe	99	21.1%	400	22.1%
Other individual regions	64	13.6%	750	41.5%
Global/comparative	108	23.0%	326	18.0%
Intra-European	34	7.2%
Atlantic world	34	7.2%
Europe and Asia	21	4.5%
Other	19	4.0%
Total	470	100%	1,808	100%

Source: database; Not included in this table are 41 methodological and historiographical articles.

Table 3. Economic sectors discussed in the articles about the preindustrial period in economic and business history journals, 2000–2016.

Sector	Pre-1500		1500–1799
General economy	16	14.5%	45	12.5%
Population	9	8.2%	22	6.1%
Agriculture	30	27.3%	46	12.8%
Industry	5	4.5%	42	11.7%
Trade	15	13.6%	84	23.3%
Finance	21	19.1%	76	21.1%
Other services	11	10.0%	35	9.7%
Other	3	2.7%	10	2.8%
Total	110	100%	360	100%

Source: Database.

Table 4. Thematic coverage in the articles on the preindustrial period in economic and business history journals, 2000–2016.

Research theme	Pre-1500	1500-1799	Total (%)
Growth and Inequality	48	121	169	36.0%
Economic growth	24	35	59	12.6%
Inequality	11	41	52	11.1%
Population and natural resources	6	16	22	4.7%
Technology	4	18	22	4.7%
Human capital	3	11	14	3.0%
Institutions	59	231	282	61.7%
Financial markets	21	72	93	19.8%
Business organisation	15	68	83	17.7%
Land and labour markets	8	34	42	8.9%
Risk and risk management	8	22	30	6.4%
Households and consumption	3	18	21	4.5%
Political economy	4	10	14	3.0%
Cultural beliefs	0	7	7	1.5%
Other	3	8	11	2.3%
TOTAL	110	360	470	100%

Source: Database.

Table 5. Thematic coverage of comparative articles on the preindustrial period in economic and business history journals, 2000–2016.

	Intra-European	Atlantic world	Europe and Asia	Other
Growth and Inequality	15	8	11	7
Economic growth	5	4	4	3
Inequality	3	1	4	0
Population and natural resources	3	0	0	0
Technology	1	2	3	3
Human capital	3	1	0	1
Institutions	19	26	9	9
Financial markets	8	2	1	1
Business organisation	6	10	7	8
Land and labour markets	2	12	0	0
Risk and risk management	1	2	0	0
Households & consumption	0	0	1	0
Political economy	2	0	0	0
Cultural beliefs	0	0	0	0
Other	0	0	1	3
TOTAL	34	34	21	19

Source: Database