The establishment of new market-places in East- Flanders, 1750-1900

This paper reconstructs the number of markets established in East-Flanders between 1750 and 1900, and tries to find whether there was a link with economic ideas and the discourse on the effects of periodic markets: whether more markets were established, and permissions to establish markets were more easily given, in times when free-trade ideas flourished. No clear connection was found between the ideas on the effects of market-places and the number of markets actually established. A comparatively large number of new markets was established in East- Flanders between 1750 and 1900, but this must have been related to other factors than merely the ideas on markets.