Well, the labor shortage was one of the major results of the Black Death in England, along with eating meat multiple times a day, the acceleration of parlimentary government, and the spread of underwear.
Are stalls really as unpleasant as the Black Death? Do they cause buboes, for example?
It used to be that shop-keeping was a fairly exclusive profession, since their numbers were limited (a few per island, handed out by the governor). Then bazaars were added, a shop-of-shops, allowing just about anyone to try running one (often badly). The result was sharply increased competition for the old shop-owners, for materials and especially labor; they had to start paying actual WAGES instead of a pittance.
It was always possible to run a shop badly, but the barriers to entry are a lot lower now, and there's more griping from those who need someone to blame for why they can't get the commodities they need...
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Date: 2004-08-10 12:04 am (UTC)Are stalls really as unpleasant as the Black Death? Do they cause buboes, for example?
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Date: 2004-08-10 07:43 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-08-10 10:12 am (UTC):)
It used to be that shop-keeping was a fairly exclusive profession, since their numbers were limited (a few per island, handed out by the governor). Then bazaars were added, a shop-of-shops, allowing just about anyone to try running one (often badly). The result was sharply increased competition for the old shop-owners, for materials and especially labor; they had to start paying actual WAGES instead of a pittance.
It was always possible to run a shop badly, but the barriers to entry are a lot lower now, and there's more griping from those who need someone to blame for why they can't get the commodities they need...