2026/07/06 by Nicoletta Rolla · 1 voice
Economics, Econometrics and Finance · Social Sciences · #Historical Economic and Legal Thought #Historical Economic and Social Studies #Medieval and Early Modern Justice
paper · pdf · doi:10.1017/s0963926826101060
openalex publication_date 2026/07/06 · openalex created_date 2026/07/07 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/08
Abstract This article argues that the regulation of rents in eighteenth-century Turin played a central role in shaping the city’s social fabric. Focusing on the first half of the century, it examines the process of rent formation culminating in a 1749 edict that condemned excessive increases and introduced new procedures for regulation. By analysing both the causes of rising rents and the criteria used to define fair rents, the article shows how rent-setting operated as a site of clash and negotiation among the competing interests of institutions, landlords and tenants. The procedures and solutions adopted reveal a system of values through which access to the city was defined. In this sense, the rental market emerges not merely as an economic mechanism but as a key arena in which the production, appropriation and transformation of urban space were negotiated and redefined.