Publisher's description:
The Economic History of European Jews attempts to make sense of the economic foundations of Jewish life in the different parts of late antique and early medieval Europe. In the first part Michael Toch describes the demographic arc, decline, subsequent rise, and spatial distribution of Jewish populations. This data is then broadened to include the range of economic activities. The second part analyses the actual share of Jews in different branches of the economy. This includes the idea of their pioneer role and the notion of an intercontinental network of Jewish commerce, the phenomenon of Jews in agriculture and entrepreneurship, gender roles and the household mode of production, and the difficult subject of the significance of minority status for economic activity, among other subjects.

Table of contents:
Preface
Introduction
Part I: Stocktaking: Regional Populations and Livelihoods
Chapter 1. Byzantium
Chapter 2. Italy
Chapter 3. Gaul, the Lands of the Franks, France and Germany
Chapter 4. The Iberian Peninsula
Chapter 5. Eastern Europe
Part II: Economic Functions and Significance
Chapter 6. Jews, Commerce and Money
Chapter 7. Landholding, Crafts, Enterprises, Medicine, and the Internal Jewish Economy
Chapter 8. Historical Conclusions
Maps
Appendix 1: Places of Jewish Settlement in the Byzantine Empire
Appendix 2: Places of Jewish Settlement in Italy
Appendix 3: Places of Jewish Settlement in France and Germany
Appendix 4: Places of Jewish Settlement in Iberia
Bibliography