How Venice's Economy Declined

There were many factors that caused the decline in Venice’s economy and industry. During the sixteenth century Italy was one of the most powerful and technologically advanced countries in the world, but during the seventeenth century other countries were becoming equally or more advanced than Italy. England, France, and Holland had started producing materials for a cheaper amount of money because of the new technology they were using to manufacture their goods. Since England, France, and Holland could make their materials for less money it meant that they could sell their materials for less money and still make a profit, whereas Venice stayed with the same manufacturing style and could not afford to cut their costs. Part of the decline in the economy was there was also a drop in productivity because of the aging factor of the labour force after 1650 and faulty government policies. Venice had run out of lumber for building ships and was forced to buy foreign ships. Venice’s hold on international trading was no longer as prevalent as it used to be because of the increase in production from other countries. Venice also never changed the wages for their employees, even though they were not making as much money as they had been during the sixteenth century. The plague in 1630-31 in Venice had an impact on production because of the loss of people. The biggest reason Venice’s economy and industry was declining was their lack of ability to change their style of manufacturing and trading. Venice’s lack of ability to change their way of transportation and manufacturing helped England and Holland become the new trading powers in the Mediterranean. Venice had run out of lumber to build their ships and was forced to buy foreign-built ships. The reason this had an impact on trading was because they no longer were building their own ships and therefore they did not have as many skilled ship builders. If Venice had more skilled ship builders they would have been able