Legends and Myths in Economics

"This book presents a compilation of short chapters on economic myths and legends, on migrations of peoples, merchants, soldiers and monks, on strategic economic mistakes, on curiosities and bizarre occurrences, on instances of industrial and financial espionage, and much more besides." "Verdun, in northern France, was a major centre for the slave trade (and the castration of slaves) around the year 1000, at a time when Baghdad was the world's most powerful city. How did Venice manage to replace the medieval fairs of Champagne? Who really financed Christopher Columbus's expedition and reshaped the world (not to mention European eating habits)? Alum allowed the Popes to pay for their wars against the 'infidels', Genoese bankers had a near monopoly of Charles V's and Philip II's finances, silver and gold from the West Indies enabled Europe to continue buying spices, silk and porcelain from the Middle and Far East." "The mirrors at Versailles reveal the success of the espionage organized by Colbert against the Venice glass industry, but Louis XIV still had to buy cannons on the Amsterdam market when he was preparing for war because the revocation of the Edict of Nantes resulted in Protestant cannon-makers fleeing France. From the first great energy crisis (wood, not oil) to the Irish potato famine and resulting mass emigration, from the Chicago slaughterhouses that inspired Henry Ford's Taylorism to the major economic crises often induced by stock market speculation ... a story of globalization advancing, occasionally retreating, but never standing still."--BOOK JACKET.Giraudo, Alessandro is the author of 'Legends and Myths in Economics ', published 2007 under ISBN 9782717853490 and ISBN 2717853499.