Volckart on Warde, _Ecology, Economy and State Formation in Early Modern Germany_

[eh.net-review at eh.net]

Published by EH.NET (May 2007)

Paul Warde, _Ecology, Economy and State Formation in Early Modern 
Germany_. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2006. xvi + 392 pp. 
$99 (cloth), ISBN: 0-521-83192-X.

Reviewed for EH.NET by Oliver Volckart, Institute of Economic 
History, Humboldt University.


At first sight, Paul Warde's study concerns the management of forests 
in some districts of late fifteenth- to early eighteenth-century 
Württemberg. A closer look reveals that the author presents a 
meticulously researched study of South-West German social, economic 
and administrative history. The book contains a wealth of detailed 
information on subjects such as the workings of village communities, 
the social structure of towns, economic policies, governmental 
regulation and the implementation of governmental measures at the 
micro-level. Warde is careful to point out local variations and 
changes over time, without denying that in many respects, social and 
economic conditions were surprisingly stable during the period of 
time he analyses.

While the book leaves few things to be desired as far as the 
presentation of archival findings is concerned, reading it is a less 
than satisfactory experience -- at least for a reader who was 
socialized among economists and expects a stringent analysis 
structured along arguments based on economic theory. Warde approaches 
his subject from the point of view of 'landscape ecology' and 
'philosophical ecological thought' and makes use of concepts 
apparently grounded in sociological systems theory. Basically, he 
treats systems (economies, societies, ecologies, etc.) less as the 
intentional or unintended result of choices made by individuals, than 
as holistic entities which are subject to 'integrity' and 
'disturbances' (cf. pp. 13 f.). Before the background of this 
approach, Warde employs concepts from diverse strands of social 
theory: Thus, modern economic concepts and tenets taken from Marxism 
are eclectically used side by side. How this is supposed to help in 
explaining change or stability still mystifies the reviewer. In fact, 
it is difficult to discover any clear-cut explanations in this book. 
For example, where Warde discusses the intensity of forest 
regulation, he describes dozens of individual occurrences or events 
and even mentions developments such as the growth or decline of 
population. However, he nowhere systematically explores how 
population developments influenced relative factor prices, and how 
changes in this field may have affected the incentives, which 
political actors engaged in regulating the forest economy faced (he 
does realize that relative factor prices are important, cf. p. 303). 
Generally, what is lacking in the book is a systematic analysis of 
who faced which incentives under the institutional system of early 
modern Württemberg, and of how such incentives changed over time. 
Also, Warde nowhere explains what exactly state formation is (is it 
just a rise in the intensity of regulation coupled with an improved 
ability to implement laws and ordinances?), still less does he 
provide an integrated approach to state formation and economic 
change. Instead, the author develops a concept of 'two ecologies' 
('territorial' and 'transformational,' pp. 283 ff.), which leaves the 
reader guessing at which causal mechanisms may actually have been at 
work.

Warde's book will be read with enjoyment by anybody interested in 
detailed descriptions of the early modern economy and society of 
South-West Germany. As far as explanations are concerned, the reader 
puts it aside with a feeling of deep dissatisfaction.


Oliver Volckart's research focuses on late medieval and early modern 
financial history, in particular on questions related to the 
efficiency and integration of financial markets. Recent publications 
include (with Nikolaus Wolf), "Estimating Financial Integration in 
the Middle Ages: What Can We Learn from a TAR-model?" _Journal of 
Economic History_ (2006). Beginning in September, he will be at the 
Economic History Department, London School of Economics.

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