Sejarah kapitalisme dapat ditelusuri kembali ke bentuk awal pedagang kapitalisme dipraktikkan di Eropa Barat selama Abad Pertengahan.[1] Sejarah ini mulai berkembang menjadi bentuk modern selama Awal periode modern pada Protestan negara Eropa Utara-Barat, terutama Belanda dan Inggris. Pedagang di Amsterdam dan London menciptakan sewaan saham gabungan perusahaan yang menjalankan perniagaan dan perdagangan, dan ini menjadi awal didirikannya lembaga bursa, perbankan dan asuransi .[2]
Selama lima ratus tahun yang lalu, modal telah dikumpulkan dalam berbagai metode yang berbeda, dalam berbagai skala, dan terkait dengan banyak variasi pemusatan kekuatan ekonomi dan kekayaan.[3] Sebagian besar sejarawan dari lima ratus tahun terakhir prihatin dengan perkembangan kapitalisme dalam berbagai bentuknya.
Sejak tahun 2000 bidang keilmuan "Sejarah Kapitalisme" telah muncul, pada program-program studi di departemen sejarah. Termasuk topik-topik seperti asuransi, perbankan dan regulasi, dimensi politik, dan dampak pada kelas menengah, kaum miskin, perempuan dan kaum minoritas.[4]
Menurut beberapa sejarawan, sistem kapitalis modern berawal pada "krisis abad keempat belas," konflik antara aristokrasi pemilik tanah dan produsen pertanian, budak. Berkenaan dengan tanah milik bangsawan pengaturan menghambat perkembangan kapitalisme dengan sejumlah cara. Karena budak dipaksa memproduksi untuk bangsawan, mereka tidak tertarik dalam inovasi teknologi, karena budak ada untuk mempertahankan keluarga mereka sendiri, mereka tidak tertarik bekerja sama satu sama lain.
- ^ Jairus Banaji (2007), "Islam, the Mediterranean and the rise of capitalism", Journal Historical Materialism 15#1 pp 47-74, Brill Publishers.
- ^ Sayle, Murray (2001-04-05). "Japan goes Dutch". London Review of Books. 23 (7): 3–7. ISSN 0260-9592. Diakses tanggal 2010-06-20.
[...] the maladies of capitalism: the boom-bust cycle, the world’s first asset-inflation bubble, the tulip mania of 1636–37, and even, in 1607, history's first bear raider, a canny shareholder named Isaac le Maire who dumped his VOC stock, forcing the price down, and then bought it back at a discount.
- ^ Scott (2005)
- ^ See Jennifer Schuessler "In History Departments, It’s Up With Capitalism" New York Times April 6, 2013
- James Anderson of Hermiston (1777) Observations on the Means of Exciting a Spirit of National Industry
- David Buchanan (1814) Observations on the Subjects Treated of in Dr. Smith's Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations Vol 4, p. 144
- George C. Comninel English feudalism and the origins of capitalism Journal of Peasant Studies, Volume 27, Issue 4 July 2000, pages 1 – 53 DOI:10.1080/03066150008438748
- Maurice Dobb and Paul Sweezy's famous debate on transition from feudalism to capitalism. Hilton, Rodney H. 1976. ed. The Transition from Feudalism to Capitalism. London:
- Ben Dodds Peasants and Production in the Medieval North-East: The Evidence from Tithes, 1270–1536. Boydell Press, 2007, Pp. xii + 205. 50.00 (hardback) ISBN 1-84383-287-9
- MC Howard, JE King CRISES IN MARX’S ANALYSIS OF THE MARKET Diarsipkan 2016-03-04 di Wayback Machine. countdownnet.info
- Rosa Luxemburg What is economics?
- Karl Marx (1867) Das Kapital
- Adam David Morton The Age of Absolutism: capitalism, the modern states-system and international relations Review of International Studies (2005), 31: 495-517 Cambridge University Press DOI:10.1017/S0260210505006601
- Francis William Newman Lectures on Political Economy London, pp. 131–2
- Peter Nolan (2009) Crossroads: The end of wild capitalism. Marshall Cavendish, ISBN 978-0-462-09968-2
- Larry Patriquin The Agrarian Origins of the Industrial Revolution in England Review of Radical Political Economics, Vol. 36, No. 2, 196-216 (2004) DOI:10.1177/0486613404264190
- Larry Patriquin Why was there no 'Old Poor Law' in Scotland and Ireland? Journal of Peasant Studies, Volume 33, Issue 2 April 2006, pages 219 - 247*Eric Richards (1973) The Leviathan of Wealth: The Sutherland Fortune in the Industrial Revolution. ISBN 0-7100-7455-7, ISBN 978-0-7100-7455-3 p. 216
- Michael Perelman (2000) The Invention of Capitalism: Classical Political Economy and the Secret History of Primitive Accumulation. Published by Duke University Press. ISBN 0-8223-2491-1, ISBN 978-0-8223-2491-1
- Stephen H. Rigby Historical Materialism: Social Structure and Social Change in the Middle Ages Journal of Medieval and Early Modern Studies 2004 34(3):473-522; DOI:10.1215/10829636-34-3-473
- S. H. Rigby's book review in Volume 35, Issue 1 of Journal of Peasant Studies
- Jennifer Schuessler In History Departments, It’s Up With Capitalism April 6, 2013 New York Times
- John Scott and Gordon Marshall "Capitalism". In A Dictionary of Sociology, Third Edition, Oxford University Press (2005). Oxford Reference Online. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860987-6
- James Denham-Steuart [1767] An Inquiry into the Principles of Political Economy vol1, vol2, vol3
- Mike Zmolek (2000) The case for Agrarian capitalism: A response to albritton Journal of Peasant Studies, Volume 27, Issue 4 July 2000, pages 138 - 159
- Zmolek M. (2001) DEBATE - Further Thoughts on Agrarian Capitalism: A Reply to Albritton The Journal of Peasant Studies, Volume 29, Number 1, October 2001, pp. 129–154(26)
- Debating Agrarian Capitalism: A Rejoinder to Albritton
- Research in Political Economy, Volume 22 Diarsipkan 2008-07-25 di Wayback Machine.
- The Roots of Merchant Capitalism
- World Socialist Movement. "What Is Capitalism?." World Socialism. 13, Aug. 2007.
- Thomas K. McCraw, "The Current Crisis and the Essence of Capitalism", The Montreal Review (August, 2011)