Central Europe and the Sixteenth- and Seventeenth-century Price Revolution 1

Since the appearance of Georg Wiebe's classic work on the sixteenth- and seventeenth-century price revolution in 1895, ¹ numerous works on the same subject have been written in several countries, especially in western and southern Europe. This predilection is easily explained—the study of the history of prices started in western Europe and the price revolution was particularly striking in countries on the Atlantic coast, which, owing to their situation, were profoundly affected by the invasion of American bullion. However, major changes in the evolution and structure of prices in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries can be traced throughout the whole of Europe.