This fine volume originated as a workshop at the University of Salzburg in 2006. All 11 papers are in English of a quality that makes this reviewer envious. The 11 papers cover the period from the sixteenth century to the period between the two world wars in the twentieth century. All the papers study events in western European cities. The subject is informal or shadow economics. No attempt has or should have been made to adopt uniform terminology: I counted more than 24 terms used to designate the informal economy. During the early part of the five centuries studied, the informal sectors are approximately synonymous with non-guild sectors. In the nineteenth century, official data become available and more careful distinctions can be made. For the early centuries of the period, painstaking reliance on original sources was necessary: judicial records, laws, news sources, etc. Since both information and patience are limited, coverage is inevitably uneven, mostly restricted to larger cities in Austria, France, Germany and Italy. A remarkable variety of productive activities is covered by the papers in the volume.

After an introductory chapter by the editors, the second chapter, by Hoffmann-Rehnitz, traces the history of terms and conditions that defined informal work in German cities. Generally, during the sixteenth century, artisans outside the guilds, probably not citizens of the city and probably illegal in specific ways, became identified and were prosecuted, at least sporadically. Guilds had a strong economic interest in proscribing workers who were outside their domain, control and training. The third chapter, by Patricia Allerston, focuses on lace production in early modern Venice. This activity was in the informal sector in that it was carried on by women, many in nunneries, and outside the control of Venice's 133 guilds. As is well known, such women produced the world's finest lace during the early modern period. How and why production of these fine products came to be concentrated in Venice, many of the producers being poor and illiterate foundlings, is unknown to the reviewer. Of course, Venice was the location of much innovative activity, including the founding of predecessors to modern banking, during this period. Chapter 4, by Christof Jeggle, is concerned with the linen trades in seventeenth-century Münster/Westphalia. During the fifteenth century the local government established a regulatory body to which linens had to be submitted to establish their quality before they could be legally sold. Submissions had to be accompanied by fees that raised large sums for the government. The regulatory body related closely to the guild and it appears that its main function was to limit entry to the business. Enforcement was scattered and many sales of linens took place outside the regulatory framework. Chapter 5, by Anne Montenach, is concerned with the food trade in seventeenth-century Lyons. At that time, the city was administratively ruled by a group elected by guild masters. This official body regulated quality standards to prevent the sale of unhealthy foods, locations for sales and, of course, prices and weights and who could sell what. Civil and criminal enforcement was erratic and much trade took place outside the legal framework. The public seems to have been supportive of such trade activity outside the law. Again, women appear to have predominated in the informal sector. Chapter 6, by Christian Hochmuth, is concerned with tobacco sales in Dresden during the 1600–1800 period. Tobacco was one of several products that were introduced to Europe by the early colonization of tropical and subtropical lands, not including the western hemisphere. Since these commodities were not produced in northern Europe, the informal economy consisted of imports, often by foreigners and smugglers. As in other cases, the guilds were leaders in trying to restrict foreign competition. Since tobacco and other foreign goods were luxury items, the illicit items were mostly traded by poor or marginal people. In this example, courts banned sales of tobacco in Dresden in 1693 because it was a natural product not governed by local laws. Similar rulings restricted or banned sales of other exotic products.

Chapter 7, by Susanne Schitz, studies restrictions on female participation in retail activity in Leipzig during the early modern period. The shopkeepers’ guild restricted what, when and where women could sell in the city. Nevertheless, women were variously active in such sales in the informal, mostly illegal, market. Enforcement of discriminatory laws was erratic, but must have had strong deterrent effects. Chapter 8, by Georg Stöger, studies the informal market in second-hand trades in Vienna and Salzburg during the early modern period. Second-hand markets of course predominated in exchange of consumer durables, such as textiles. Entry was controlled by requirements of expensive licences to engage in the trade. Women and minorities were discriminated against in the issue of licences, but authorities presumably had little control over licence resales. Unsurprisingly, exceptions were made irregularly, such as the sale of bequeathed items. The difficulty of enforcement of licensing rules led to widespread evasion in the secondary market. Illicit sales were encouraged by the toleration of the public, which benefited from the activity. Once again, the informal market was an important means by which women and Jews were able to enter the market. Apparently, legal tolerance for unauthorized vendors increased as time passed, especially if miscreants were poor. Chapter 9, by Jutta Nowosadtko, is concerned with secondary jobs held by soldiers in garrisons in nineteenth-century Münster. Apparently, but not surprisingly, large garrisons provided substantial economic benefits to nearby towns, despite frequent hostile attitudes toward the garrisons. Hostility was encouraged by the fact that military personnel were exempt from local laws that controlled and taxed private sector employment, and many soldiers engaged in private activities as secondary jobs. Soldiers were mostly free to engage in almost unlimited outside employment provided it was not criminal activity, and frequently engaged in activities in which their military skills profited them. Chapter 10, by Svenja Kornher, is concerned with the hairdressing business in Germany around 1900. The paper traces the changes in the acceptability of men and women, especially in ladies’ hairdressing, the role of required registration and apprenticeships in preparation for employment, the shift of service provision from customers’ homes to the providers’ shops and, more incidentally, technical progress in the sector (availability of hot water and electrical appliances). In contrast with most papers in the volume, gender discrimination was not entirely against women in this sector; some was against men engaging in women's hairdressing. Chapter 11, the final study in the volume by Sigrid Wadauer, concerns itinerant retail sales in Vienna during the inter-war period of the twentieth century. There was, of course, conflict between shopkeepers and itinerant pedlars. Laws regarding itinerants were almost impossible to enforce. Pedlars could hardly be distinguished from beggars, and there were legitimate concerns about sanitary standards in perishable products sold by pedlars, tax invasion and cheating. All was complicated by the presence of disabled war veterans among itinerant vendors, sometimes accused of pretending excessive disability. Gender seems not to have been an issue in this subject, but itinerant pedlars are appropriately identified as members of the informal sector.

The 11 papers in this volume report carefully researched studies by fine scholars. The gradual liberations of women through the centuries can be traced in several studies. More implicit is the gradual liberalization of western European economies by opening markets to competition through the urging of Adam Smith and others. The cost of the reversal of the liberalization during the late twentieth century – shown in the US by the licensing of hundreds of occupations by all levels of government – has yet to be calculated.