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Brand Names Before the Industrial Revolution

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Author Info
Gary Richardson

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Abstract

In medieval Europe, manufacturers sold durable goods to anonymous consumers in distant markets, this essay argues, by making products with conspicuous characteristics. Examples of these unique, observable traits included cloth of distinctive colors, fabric with unmistakable weaves, and pewter that resonated at a particular pitch. These attributes identified merchandise because consumers could observe them readily, but counterfeiters could copy them only at great cost, if at all. Conspicuous characteristics fulfilled many of the functions that patents, trademarks, and brand names do today. The words that referred to products with conspicuous characteristics served as brand names in the Middle Ages. Data drawn from an array of industries corroborates this conjecture. The abundance of evidence suggests that conspicuous characteristics played a key role in the expansion of manufacturing before the Industrial Revolution.

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Paper provided by National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc in its series NBER Working Papers with number 13930.

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Date of creation: Apr 2008
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Handle: RePEc:nbr:nberwo:13930

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Find related papers by JEL classification:
L15 - Industrial Organization - - Market Structure, Firm Strategy, and Market Performance - - - Information and Product Quality
L2 - Industrial Organization - - Firm Objectives, Organization, and Behavior
N13 - Economic History - - Macroeconomics and Monetary Economics; Growth and Fluctuations - - - Europe: Pre-1913
N4 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, and Regulation
N6 - Economic History - - Manufacturing and Construction
O14 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economic Development - - - Industrialization; Manufacturing and Service Industries; Choice of Technology
O34 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Technological Change - - - Intellectual Property Rights
O5 - Economic Development, Technological Change, and Growth - - Economywide Country Studies

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  1. Gary Richardson & Michael McBride, 2008. "Religion, Longevity, and Cooperation: The Case of the Craft Guild," NBER Working Papers 14004, National Bureau of Economic Research, Inc. [Downloadable!] (restricted)
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