Published: 2021-07-31

The economic aspect of the functioning of a Cracow workshop in the late 16th and the 1st half of the 17th c. illustrated with a beer-brewing-and-selling enterprise

Sławomir Dryja
Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej
Section: Studies and Materials
DOI https://doi.org/10.23858/KHKM69.2021.1.003

Abstract

The main objective of the article is to analyse the costs of beer brewing in Cracow at the end of the 16th c. on the basis of Obrachowanie kosztu waru piwa [A calculation of the cost of a war of beer], appended to the fixed price list from 1593. For the purpose of analysis the costs were divided into four major groups: materials, labour, taxes and duties, and rent. It was found that the price of beer was primarily influenced by the cost of raw materials (wheat, hops, firewood), while other costs were marginal. The article also addresses the functioning of the market during violent fluctuations in the prices of raw materials. It is pointed out that since the imposed fixed prices were in all probability adhered to, the rising cost of raw materials was compensated by lowering the quality of beer, which indicates that the mechanism of price regulation in
the first half of the 17th c. had a negative impact on the market.

Keywords:

beer, Cracow, XVIth century, beer-brewing-and-selling enterprise, rise on prices, production profitability

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Citation rules

Dryja, S. (2021). The economic aspect of the functioning of a Cracow workshop in the late 16th and the 1st half of the 17th c. illustrated with a beer-brewing-and-selling enterprise. Kwartalnik Historii Kultury Materialnej, 69(1), 39–55. https://doi.org/10.23858/KHKM69.2021.1.003

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