Shifts in loci of production of these supplies, changes in their technologies of production, and organization of provisioning are depicted at length. The article demonstrates that the specific dates chosen for inquiry help delineate important periodic transformations within each part of the process as well as for the entirety of the commodity chain. The grain-flour commodity chain was studied for the period between 1590 to 1790 as a universal consumer item. To accomplish the first objective, a number of cities were selected throughout western Europe, and changes in the geographical spread of their grain-flour supply routes over time were traced. These served to show the existence of the Kondratieff waves over the 200-year period under study.
Part one describes the components of the boxes of the chain.
Part three discusses the importance of the grain trade for cities. Part three shows the changes in the geographic spread of the supply routes of selected cities for grain-flour. Part four discusses the changes in supply routes for demonstrating the Kondratieff waves. Its principal thesis is that such chains are not a recent construct but exist within the capitalist world-economy since at least the sixteenth century. We therefore study such chains in the period 1590-1790, and explain what the rationale is for choosing the two case studies of shipbuilding and grain flour.