Changes in English and Anglo-American Consumption from 1550 to 1800
Author(s)
Shammas, Carole
Abstract
“Economic historians have usually been more interested in studying production than consumption.” This “supply-side orthodoxy” has been challenged by historians of the early modern period (the sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries), many of whom have focused on the role of consumption. For example, some historians suggest that the desire for newly available types of goods may have motivated early modern households to increase production for the market. However, history can only tell us who consumed what, not why. There were important changes in household consumption patterns in the early modern period. This article examines two categories of goods: groceries (such as tobacco, sugar, and tea) and consumer durables. It seeks to determine when a mass market arose for these goods, and whether the availability of new products resulted in a structural change in expenditures.
