List of Tables, Figures, and Maps Preface Introduction: The Commerical Revolution Economic Growth and Development in Italy to 1300 Trade with the Levant Links to the North The Tuscan Towns Florence Rise to Predominance The Dynamics of Growth Part I: International Merchant Banking 1. The Network Performance Dynamics of Change Periodization The Era of the Florin Balance of Payments Structures The Firm The Conduct of Business Interfirm Relations The Center Florence and Regional Trade Florence as International Emporium 2. The Shifting Geography of Commerce Northwestern Europe Naples and Southern Italy The Western Mediterranean A Transport Revolution The Iberian Peninsula Southern France The Later Sixteenth Century Central Italy and Rome Venice, the Adriatic, and the Levant Central Europe 3. Banking and Finance Banking Deposits and Loans International Transfer and Exchange The Bill of Exchange as Credit Instrument The International Exchange Market Government Finance Loans to Rulers Risks The Papacy Competition and Innovation in the Sixteenth Century Part II: The Urban Economy 4. The Textile Industries General Performance The Wool Industry The Silk Industry Linen Drapers Business Organization The Firm Operations beyond the Firm Production The Shop The Work Force Recapitulation: Wool, Silk, and the Economy 5. Artisans, Shop keepers, Workers The Work Force Guilds Artisans Works on the Margins of the Market Performance of the Artisan Sector Demand-Driven Growth Parameters of the Local Market 6. Banking and Credit Banking Institutions through the Fifteenth Century Historiographical Problems Local Banks Pawnbrokers Welfare Institutions Banks and the Government Lack of a Banking System Performance of the Banking Sector Practices Economic Functions Bankruptcies Banking outside of Banks Offsetting The Private Credit Market New Directions in the Sixteenth Century A Public Savings- and- Loan Bank A Central Clearance Bank? Conclusion 7. Contexts Government and the Economy Economic Policy Fiscal Policy Business Interests and Government The Region and the City Urban Geography Industrial Resources Agriculture Economic Integration Private Wealth Social Mobility A Profile of Wealth Distribution in 1427 Redistribution of Wealth in the Fifteenth and Sixteenth Centuries Conclusion Economic Culture Attitudes and Behavior Notions about the Economy Performance The Economy in the Short Run A Final Judgment Appendix: Changing Values of the Florin Index.