The Economic Motivations of Vilna and its Suburban Area Jews in the Eighteenth Century: Rationale, Institutional Framework, Partners

Economic history is very often understood as a science of numbers. However, the economic history of Grand Duchy of Lithuania very often lacks them, so it can be analyzed through the statistical method. Therefore, to understand economic reality of such early modern case as 18^th Grand Duchy of Lithuania requires different approaches – one of them is economic sociology, which more and more used in a variety of historical researches. Economic sociology aims to analyze economic choices of both individuals and groups, questioning their motives, rationale, reasons, institutional framework which for certain locations can give comprehensive outlook and how people dealt in their everyday economic life, what decisions they made, to whom and what they looked when making these decisions.

The aim of this presentation would be to look into the specific socio-economic group of people, Jews, that were based in a specific location – 18^th c. Vilna and its suburbs, and check the aforementioned factors. Analyses of such approach would give better understanding to the existing scholar works on how Jews dealt with money, whether all investment made was genuinely thought through, the balance between profit and communal or religious needs, Jewish role in general towns economic scenery, etc. Research would be based on specific narrative sources such as lasts wills, letters, personal economic inventories through the micro-history approach.