The origins of a general trend in Europe of rising prices between 1520 and 1640, labeled the Price Revolution, have been deeply contested by economic historians since the 1920s. The debate is divided between two major camps, stressing the importance of monetary and ‘real’ factors respectively. My paper provides a general overview of the literature since the 1920s. I identify the influence of parallel developments in economic thought on the debate. Further, using the same qualitative primary sources employed by previous works on the topic I construct a novel explanation for these rising prices, avoiding constraints presented by flawed/restricted data.

People Anil Menon Professor Paul Monod

Related Links My experience at the Spring Symposium

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In a January 2011 Winter Term Class, “Twenty-First Century Global Challenges,”  21 Middlebury students studied great challenges of our time – including wide-scale poverty, climate change, and the struggle for human rights. They then analyzed how social entrepreneurs – individuals and groups who are developing new ways to attack systematic problems – are taking on these challenges.  For example, Nina Cameron ’12 studied how the Global Network is trying to reduce the prevalence of neglected tropical diseases; Erin Kelly ’13 studied how the University of the Peopleis providing tuition-free higher-education throughout the developing world.  The students also spend much of the course developing a vision for a new center for social entrepreneurship based at Middlebury College.  On this MiddLab, we report the ongoing results of this work.

People Jonathan Isham, Jr. Professor of Economics Wahid Ahmed Catherine Brown Nina Cameron Brian Clow Thomas Crocker Matthew Engel Stuart Fram Allison Grant Mark Hannah Paul Hildebrand Aaron Kelly Claire McIlvennie Olivia Noble Bradley Osborn Devin Perkins Hilary Platt Jeronimo Riefkohl Martin Sweeney Rhidaya Trivedi Kenneth Williams Nicole Williams

The Ripple Effect in India

Related Links Social Entrepreneurship in the Liberal Arts – Jonathan Isham (The Middlebury Campus, January 20, 2011) The Development Project Management Institute (DPMI) at MIIS Careers in the Common Good Old Stone Mill The Alliance for Civic Engagement Fred Kropp’s course on social entrepreneurship at MIIS

Downloads Reducing the prevalence of neglected tropical diseases – Nina Cameron ’12 Increasing access to tertiary education in the developing world – Aaron Kelly ’13 A vision for the Hassenfeld Center at Middlebury College – the students of ES380 A 2007 paper on social entrepreneurship at Middlebury – David Hopkins ’06.5 Social Entrepreneurship Collaboratories – Gordon Bloom (Harvard ’82) A recent talk from Bill Gates on Education for the Real World

The business model of the food industry, as it stands today, is unsustainable.  To counter these negative trends, organizations like Slow Food International have begun to champion the importance of “quality” for health, the environment, and the art of gastronomy. But what does quality mean and what will be its impact on the global food industry? An analysis of wines produced in France and labeled with the government-sponsored quality certification system, Appelation d’Origine Contrôlée, reveals that an emphasis on quality and geography, rather than brand, makes the food market more monopolistically competitive, more inclusive yet hierarchical.

People Emily Gullickson Researcher Thierry Warin Sponsor and Associate Professor of Economics Lynn Owens Sponsor and Assistant Professor of Sociology

Related Links Spring Student Symposium

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At the dawn of Europe’s global age, England and the Dutch Republic clashed in a series of violent naval battles known as the First Anglo-Dutch War (1652-1654). I argue that the First Anglo-Dutch War was the direct result of the calculated political and economic strategies of the English East India Company (EIC).  Through carefully crafted popular marketing campaigns and the consistent, calculated lobbying and infiltration of England’s monarchy and national government, the EIC definitively influenced English foreign policy – a strategy that would establish the foundation for the greatest global empire the world had yet seen.

People Andrew Van Horn Ruoss Researcher Paul Monod Advisor & A. Barton Hepburn Professor of History

Related Links 1651: A true relation of the unjust, cruel, and barbarous proceedings against the English 1614: Englands vvay to vvin vvealth, and to employ ships and marriners 1651: An act for increase of shipping

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