DOI: 10.36253/979-12-215-1076-8.26 ISSN: 2704-6362

Land price trends as markers of economic cycles? Inflation, debasement and exchange rates in the central Middle Ages

Lorenzo Tabarrini
Show PDF Cite
Can we write a meaningful history of land prices during the early and central Middle Ages? Ac-cording to a line of research inspired by economic anthropology, the answer would be no: land primarily served to construct networks of alliance and cannot be regarded as a mere commod-ity. Nevertheless, several classic studies have used price fluctuations as tools for periodisation – sometimes, in fact, as markers of profound social and economic changes. Yet this raises a fur-ther problem: scholars have not always attributed the same importance to monetary dynamics as factors capable of influencing prices. This article reviews the existing historiography on these issues with reference to northern and central Italy; its concluding remarks focus on a specific aspect of price analysis, namely exchange rates.

More from our Archive