The Politics of Jewish Commerce
Economic Thought and Emancipation in Europe, 1638–1848

This book examines the centrality of economics in European attitudes toward Jews from 1638–1848.

Jonathan Karp (Author)

9781107407800, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 4 October 2012

388 pages
22.9 x 15.2 x 2.2 cm, 0.57 kg

Review of the hardback: 'This original and thoroughly researched book carefully analyzes debates surrounding the place and role of 'the Jews' in the economy of early modern Western Europe. The end result is a convincing, fresh and careful analysis of three related but potentially explosive topics that are rarely dealt with appropriately in academia and beyond: Jews, money and modernity. This is a convincing, learned and path-breaking analysis of several different, yet related, fields that add significantly to the study of early modern Europe, the birth of modern economic and political thought, and the place and role of 'the Jews' in all three of these discourses.' Religious Studies Review

This study demonstrates the centrality of economic rationales to debates on Jews' status in Italy, Britain, France and Germany during the course of two centuries. It delineates the common themes that informed these debates - the ideal republic and the 'ancient constitution', the conflict between virtue and commerce, and the notion of useful and productive labor. It thus provides an overview of the political-economic dimensions of Jewish emancipation literature of this period. This overview is viewed against the backdrop of broader controversies within European society over the effects of commerce on inherited political values and institutions. By focusing on economic attitudes toward Jews, the book also illuminates European intellectual approaches toward economic modernity. By elucidating these general debates, it renders more contemporary Jewish economic self-conceptions - and the enormous impetus that Jewish reformist movements placed on the Jews' economic and occupational transformation - fully explicable.

Introduction
1. This new-fangled age
2. From ancient constitution to Mosaic Republic
3. The new system of commercial government
4. The natural order of things
5. A state within a state
6. The Israelites and the aristocracy
7. Jews, commerce, and history
8. Capitalism and the Jews
Afterword: industrialization and beyond.

Subject Areas: Economic history [KCZ], Judaism [HRJ], Social & cultural history [HBTB], European history [HBJD]