Published online by Cambridge University Press: 04 March 2019
Differences in material conditions are a determinant that explains the little divergence between northwestern and southern Europe. This article approaches the evolution of prices in early modern Toledo (Spain). The price index includes new items such as housing and employs different baskets over time, reflecting changes in consumption patterns. During the city’s golden age, prices grew faster than in London, Paris, or Amsterdam. Wine, urban rent, and food prices experienced a great increase, coinciding with demographic growth and the arrival of the American precious metals. Prices slowed in the first half of the seventeenth century, throughout Castile’s demographic and economic decay.
I am especially grateful to Mauricio Drelichman, Dr. Marina Adshade, María Jesús Fuente, and Enrique Llopis for encouraging me to submit this article. I also thank Philip T. Hoffman, Ernesto López Losa, Ramón Lanza, Jacob Weisdorf, and seminar participants at Carlos III University, the 2017 AEHE conference, Sapienza University, University of the Basque Country, Vancouver School of Economics, and the 2016 SSHA meetings for useful exchanges and suggestions. I acknowledge the assistance of Mariano García Ruipérez at the Archivo Municipal de Toledo, as well as that of staff at the Archivo y Biblioteca Capitulares de Toledo. All errors remain my own.