Capitalism in Medieval Europe: Did accounting boost the genuine capitalist spirit?
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.5007/2175-8069.2022.e72126Abstract
The purpose of this theoretical essay is to analyze whether accounting genuinely boosted medieval European capitalist practice through the double-entry method. The study is centered on the thirteenth to eighteenth centuries, with a return to antiquity. The historical-dialectic was adopted. Then, the inferences were made from Sombart's thesis (double entry bookkeeping). By contrast, Yamey disputes that position. On the other hand, Sanandaji's position is that capitalism was not born in medieval Europe but in antiquity. The evidence was founded in Guanzi, Artha??stra and Ciropedia. Mattessich, on the other hand, reveals the presence of principle of duality (kind of double entry bookkeeping) responsible for recording the business transactions of that time. The reflections found are that the evidence suggests that accounting contributed as much to medieval capitalist practice in Europe as to the ancient world.
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