Mercantilism, Account Keeping and the Periphery-Core Relationship: (Perspectives in Economic and Social History)

Merchant trading companies had a significant impact on the world economy of the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries. In fact, there are strong parallels with modern multi-nationals and study of these earlier enterprises has much to tell us about contemporary world economics. Previously, studies of mercantilism have tended to focus on the effects on the originating countries and populations. This new essay collection, based on extensive archival research, redresses that balance to examine the impact such trade had on indigenous populations and peripheral countries. It counters the myth that such non-European players acted in a less than rational way. This new perspective will be of interest to economists and historians of global trade, migration and colonialism.

Table of Contents:
Introduction – Cheryl S McWatters, Arthur J Ray and Frank J Tough Part I: Pre-Market Intermediaries and Indigenous Players 1 Cash or Credit: Jesuit Money Flows during the Dawn of a Global World – Frederik Vermote 2 Inherent Contradictions of New Netherland's Economy and the Pre Market Monetary System among the Iroquois – Mario Schmidt Part II: Market Encounters with the Periphery 3 European Merchant Trading Firms and the Export of the Precious Metals from the Kingdom of Bohemia during the Sixteenth Century – Petr Vorel 4 Trade, Truck, Barter and Custom: The Markets for Slave Trade Merchandise in Africa – Cheryl S McWatters and Yannick Lemarchand Part III: Production, Consumption, and Management of the Colonial Economy 5 Glimpses of an Indigenous Economy: Patterns of Consumption and Production of Indigenous Peoples in the Nineteenth-Century Fur Trade and Whaling Industry – Leanna Parker 6 Economic Intelligence and Fur Trade Management by the Hudson’s Bay Company: An Examination of District Reports in the Nineteeth and Early Twentieth Centuries – Arthur J Ray 7 Accounting for Hudson’s Bay Company York Boat Labour c.1821–73 – Frank J Tough Conclusion: Accounting, Indigenous Traders and the Dangers of Exchange – Richard Unger

About the Author :
Cheryl Susan McWatters is a Professor in the Telfer School of Management at the University of Ottawa, where she specializes in accounting and management. She has received a number of awards and scholarships during her career. Currently, she is the Editor of Account History Review and the Associate Editor of Journal of Operations Management.