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Winter 2017

ISSN 0890-913X

Volume 32, Number 4

Categories: Winter 2017 | Economic development

How the City Air Made Us Free: The Self-Governing Medieval City and the Bourgeois Revaluation

Andrew T. Young , Texas Tech University

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TheJournalofPrivateEnterprise32(4),2017,31–47HowtheCityAirMadeUsFree:TheSelf-GoverningMedievalCityandtheBourgeoisRevaluationAndrewT.YoungTexasTechUniversity______________________________________________________AbstractTheGreatEnrichmentofthenineteenthandtwentiethcenturiesinvolvedunprecedentedincreasesinlivingstandardsacrossEuropeanditsoffshoots.IarguethatMcCloskey’scharacterizationoftheemergenceofabourgeoisethicsanddignityasexogenoustotheinstitutionalenvironmentsisnotconvincing.Rather,theconstitutionaldevelopmentoftheselfgoverningmedievalcitywasanecessaryconditionfortheethicalandrhetoricalchangethatMcCloskeyemphasizes.Furthermore,abourgeoisethicsanddignitywerelikelyemerginginEuropeancitiesasearlyasthetwelfthcenturyasaresultofconstitutionalbargains.GiventhatliteracywaslargelyconfinedtotheclergyduringtheHighMiddleAges,apaucityofpremodernevidenceforthisemergenceisnotsurprising.______________________________________________________JELCodes:N44,O10,O52,P50,K00Keywords:GreatEnrichment,constitutions,institutions,medievalcity,BourgeoisRevaluation,polycentricsovereigntyI.IntroductionInthreevolumespublishedoveradecade,DeirdreMcCloskey(2006,2010,2016a)hasadvancedaboldandnovelexplanationforwhatshetermstheGreatEnrichment:inWesternEuropeanditsoffshoots,“agiganticimprovementforthepoorandapromisenowbeingfulfilledofthesameresultworldwide”(2016a,p.xii).Conservatively,theincreaseinlivingstandardsassociatedwiththeGreatEnrichmentwasbyafactorof30–45.1TheGreatEnrichment—orwhatmanyeconomistsmoreblandlyrefertoastheeraofsustainedeconomicgrowth—hasbeenanunprecedentedwatershedforhumanwelfare.McCloskey’sthesisemphasizesanethicalandrhetoricalchangethatbegantooccurinnorthwesternEuropeinthesixteenthcentury.Individualsbegantoappreciatethatnotonlydidtheircommercial1McCloskey2010,chap.1;basedonMaddison2006data.

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Title	How the City Air Made Us Free: The Self-Governing Medieval City and the Bourgeois Revaluation
Authors/Creators:	Andrew T. Young , Texas Tech University
Year:	2017
Volume:	32
Number:	4
Pages:	31 - 47
Publisher:	The Association of Private Enterprise Education
ISSN:	0890-913X
Document Type:	Articles
Keywords:	Great Enrichment, constitutions, institutions, medieval city, Bourgeois Revaluation, polycentric sovereignty

Citation:
Young, Andrew T. / 2017. "How the City Air Made Us Free: The Self-Governing Medieval City and the Bourgeois Revaluation." The Journal of Private Enterprise, 32(4): 31-47.