He had to pay direct taxes and was forced to loan money to Siena. He needed to provide dowries as high as 600 lire for his daughters. His net worth seems to have declined over time. 4 Balestracci's work is very welcome. Especially welcome is his detailed account, bolstered by his additional research, of Benedetto's transactions.
Criticisms are few.
Balestracci makes generalizations about larger issues without much evidence. He was unable to use scholarship that has appeared since 1984 on the availability of schooling in villages in Renaissance Italy. But this reviewer was unable to locate an original Italian edition to check the translation. Hence, some questions remain. The translators use the terms medieval, late medieval, Renaissance, and early modern without indication of the centuries meant.