15 - Bread Price Regulation Renewed and Abolished, 1776–1855

Summary

This chapter returns to the broader European experience with bread price regulation. Dutch practice is compared with neighboring countries in order to determine whether the new regulatory policy spread to other countries, the taxation of bread was adopted elsewhere, and finally, whether these policies led to systematically higher bread prices in the Netherlands than elsewhere in Europe. We find that Dutch practice was gradually adopted elsewhere, but not everywhere. A few other places taxed bread, but not as heavily as in the Dutch Republic. Finally, bread prices elsewhere were generally lower than in the western Netherlands, but the differences were much smaller than the heavy taxes would predict. Explanations for this unexpected finding are offered.