This paper examines the evolution of consumption practices in Venice in the long eighteenth century through the combined use of post-mortem inventories and household budgets. Although Italy experienced a period of relative decline between the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, our findings suggest that Venetian households enjoyed a rich and vibrant material culture that was fully comparable with those of the most advanced European urban economies. However, although new products, practices, and fashions were adopted by Venetian society, the architecture of consumption did not undergo sudden and extreme changes; rather, consumption was gradually refined, following the path that it had begun during the Renaissance. We therefore argue that the Venetian economy did not experience a consumer revolution but, instead, consumer evolution. Moreover, this study shows that sophisticated consumption practices were not exclusive to the more dynamic economies of the continent but were widespread even in those regions that were victims of the Little Divergence. We thus suggest that the relationship between consumption development and economic development was not necessarily causal and that the diffusion of new consumption practices throughout society was a necessary, but insufficient, prerequisite for economic take-off.

中文翻译：

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存量和流量：近代早期威尼斯的物质文化和消费行为（约1650-1800）

本文通过结合使用事后库存和家庭预算，研究了威尼斯在漫长的十八世纪消费实践的演变。尽管意大利在十七世纪和十八世纪之间经历了一段相对衰落的时期，但我们的研究结果表明，威尼斯家庭享有丰富而充满活力的物质文化，完全可以与最先进的欧洲城市经济体相媲美。然而，尽管威尼斯社会采用了新的产品、做法和时尚，但消费结构并没有发生突然和极端的变化；相反，消费沿着文艺复兴时期开始的道路逐渐精细化。因此，我们认为威尼斯经济并没有经历消费革命，而是经历了消费者进化。此外，这项研究表明，复杂的消费习惯并不只存在于非洲大陆更具活力的经济体中，甚至在那些受小分流影响的地区也很普遍。因此，我们认为，消费发展与经济发展之间并不一定存在因果关系，新的消费实践在全社会的传播是经济腾飞的必要但不充分的先决条件。