Carriers of Growth?: International Trade and Economic Development in the Austrian Netherlands -- Copyright -- Dedication -- Contents -- Preface -- List of Map, Charts and Tables -- List of Abbreviations -- Glossary -- Introduction -- PART 1: Theoretical Background -- 1 International Trade and Economic Development -- 2 The Austrian Netherlands in the Second Half of the Eighteenth Century: A Cautious Recovery -- 3 International Trade by a Commercially 'Passive' PARTicipant -- 4 Sources for the History of Eighteenth-Century International Trade -- 1 The Habsburg Customs Statistics: Magnum Opus of the Customs Administration -- 2 The Tariff Books: A Look Behind the Curtain of the Trade Policy -- 3 The Large Legacy of the Bureau de la régie -- PART 2: International Trade in the Austrian Netherlands: An Assessment of Its Value -- 5 The Balance of Trade -- 1 State of the Art -- 2 Approach -- 3 Results -- 4 What Did It Mean? -- 5 The Pitfalls of the Balance of Trade -- 6 Revealed Comparative Advantages Through International Trade Contributions -- 7 Conclusion -- PART 3: International Trade in the Austrian Netherlands, a Study of Five Key Sectors -- 6 The Salt Trade: The Flavour of Progress -- 1 "The salt of life" -- 2 The Salt Sector in the Austrian Netherlands -- 3 The Salt Flows -- 4 Contradicting Histories? -- 5 Conclusion -- 7 The Textile Trade: A Tradition in Decay? -- 1 The Eighteenth-Century Textile Sector -- 2 The Economic Weight of the Textile Branches -- 3 A Textile Landscape in Evolution -- 4 Explaining the Shifts Within the Textile Sector -- 5 The Impact of Trade on Different Stakeholders -- 6 Conclusion -- 8 The Trade in Colonial Commodities: Introducing the Exotic -- 1 The Irresistible Lure of Exotic Produce -- 2 Incorporating the New -- 3 Market Capacity or Smart Policy? -- 4 Conclusion -- 9 The Coal Trade: A Motor for Development?.

1 "The Basis, as Always, was Coal" -- 2 The Coal Sector: In Britain's Shadow? -- 3 International Trade: Source de prospérité or Paralysing Influence? -- 4 The Coal Flows -- 5 Effects of the Coal Trade on the Habsburg Economy -- 6 Parallels Between the Salt and the Coal Sector -- 7 Conclusion -- 10 To Trade or Not to Trade?: The Grain Trade -- 1 Grains in the Eighteenth-Century Austrian Netherlands -- 2 Changing Policies: Fickleness or Decisiveness? -- 3 The International Grain Trade: Capricious Flows -- 4 Conclusion -- PART 4: The Development of Transit Trade as theTrade Policy's Litmus Test -- 11 Transit Trade -- Conclusion -- Appendices -- Bibliography -- Index.