The genesis of the Price Revolution in Europe (15th–17th centuries)

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The article examines the genesis of the Price Revolution in Europe during the fifteenth to seventeenth centuries. It identifies the preconditions and causes of this phenomenon in European civilization and highlights the specific features of its development throughout the period under study. The chronological framework of the Price Revolution is analysed within the broader European context, and its geographical scope is characterized. The Price Revolution in Europe was a global phenomenon that spread throughout the emerging capitalist world-system, encompassing its core, semi-peripheries, and peripheries. The new world economy was profoundly affected by the Price Revolution at the very beginning of its formation, while its structural characteristics also contributed to the persistence of inflationary processes. However, the developing world-system itself initially generated the Price Revolution. Contrary to the still widespread thesis that attributes the phenomenon primarily to the massive influx of American gold and silver, the unprecedented inflation was largely determined by internal factors, including demographic growth and social transformations, the reorientation of European trade routes, the expansion of silver and copper mining within Europe, and broader structural changes in market relations. At first glance, it may seem surprising that the Price Revolution developed more slowly in Spain than in several other European countries. Nevertheless, contrary to the traditional interpretation, the phenomenon did not originate solely from the inflow of New World treasure. The forms and impact of both monetary and real economic factors varied considerably across European states, depending on local economic conditions. Undoubtedly, the inflow of precious metals from the Americas had a significant effect on the development of inflationary processes. However, its influence was primarily catalytic, contributing to the prolonged duration of the phenomenon and generating a synergistic effect. Following the development of the major mining centres of Potosн, Zacatecas, and other sources of precious metals, Europe experienced an even stronger inflationary upsurge. With regard to the starting point of the Price Revolution, it should be noted that between 1516 and 1520 inflationary processes began to acquire a truly continental scale compared with earlier periods. Nevertheless, the trend toward an accelerated increase in consumer prices had already emerged at the beginning of the sixteenth century.

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