Covering the period c.1200-c.2000, this book provides an innovative investigation of entrepreneurship in a long-run historical perspective, presenting new insights into the personal characteristics of successful business people and deepening our understanding of the roots of industrialization and economic growth.

Mark Casson is Professor of Economics at the University of Reading, UK, based jointly in the Department of Economics and the Henley Business School. He is co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Entrepreneurship (2006) and the author of Entrepreneurship: Theory, Networks, History (2010).

Catherine Casson is Research Fellow at the Winton Institute of Monetary History, Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, UK and Teaching Fellow in the School of History and Cultures, University of Birmingham. She is currently researching property rents and prices c.1450-c.1914 and reputation and economic performance in English medieval towns.