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oapen-20.500.12657-748192023-08-03T17:59:40Z Chapter The spread of Hindu-Arabic numerals among practitioners in Italy and England (13th-16th c.): two moments of a European innovation cycle? Danna, Raffaele Knowledge diffusion learning economic growth commercial revolution little divergence bic Book Industry Communication::J Society & social sciences::JH Sociology & anthropology::JHB Sociology Together with introducing a set of key innovations in commercial practices, the merchant-bankers of the commercial revolution of the 13th century were also the first European economic agents to adopt Hindu-Arabic numerals. As practical arithmetic provided the mathematical foundation for commercial innovations, studying its European spread provides a particularly suitable angle to study the diffusion of practical knowledge in the pre-modern period. Italy was the early adopter of these techniques, while in England these practices became widespread at the onset of the little divergence. In this paper, I discuss in comparative perspective the social diffusion of this knowledge in Italy and England, and its wider impact. On the one hand, this analysis makes it possible to show a number of parallels between the trajectories followed by these societies. On the other hand, it allows to observe the complex interactions between practical knowledge and wider economic, institutional, and social changes. 2023-08-03T15:02:34Z 2023-08-03T15:02:34Z 2023 chapter ONIX_20230803_9791221500929_15 9791221500929 https://library.oapen.org/handle/20.500.12657/74819 eng Datini Studies in Economic History application/pdf Attribution 4.0 International 9791221500929-06.pdf https://books.fupress.com/doi/capitoli/979-12-215-0092-9_6 Firenze University Press L’economia della conoscenza: innovazione, produttività e crescita economica nei secoli XIII-XVIII / The knowledge economy: innovation, productivity and economic growth, 13th to 18th century 10.36253/979-12-215-0092-9.06 10.36253/979-12-215-0092-9.06 bf65d21a-78e5-4ba2-983a-dbfa90962870 9f9bbbdd-c500-4575-9865-db2693689bc1 9791221500929 3 29 Florence open access
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Together with introducing a set of key innovations in commercial practices, the merchant-bankers of the commercial revolution of the 13th century were also the first European economic agents to adopt Hindu-Arabic numerals. As practical arithmetic provided the mathematical foundation for commercial innovations, studying its European spread provides a particularly suitable angle to study the diffusion of practical knowledge in the pre-modern period. Italy was the early adopter of these techniques, while in England these practices became widespread at the onset of the little divergence. In this paper, I discuss in comparative perspective the social diffusion of this knowledge in Italy and England, and its wider impact. On the one hand, this analysis makes it possible to show a number of parallels between the trajectories followed by these societies. On the other hand, it allows to observe the complex interactions between practical knowledge and wider economic, institutional, and social changes.
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