Global Commodities in Early Modern Spain

Abstract

In this particular case study, a fiscal source had provide the information to study the effects of income distribution on consumption and demand in mid-eighteenth-century Madrid. As a result of centuries of relations between East and West, Madrid exhibits the dynamics of consumption of an imperial capital served by products from every corner of the world. Many of these overseas products played a central role as social markers, especially in urban populations. However, what we can infer from the data is the evidence of a well-defined stratified purchase where each social class underscores a particular pattern of consumption and a moderate spread of certain commodities among the middle classes.