On first sight it might seem that Austen's novels display the same lack of interest in trade and slavery as they do in issues of contemporary politics, whether they be the French Revolution or the Napoleonic Wars. Yet the social worlds of Austen's novels evince a profound concern with trade, for almost every character is defined and determined by his or her relationship to, and distance from, commerce. To her age, ‘trade’ meant not only the buying and selling of goods and services, but also a set of ideas marshalled in defence of commerce and business. As such, the term ‘trade’ further invoked a complex set of cultural assumptions about tradesmen, merchants and the moral status of commerce.

Jane Austen wrote, and was published, in a period of profound economic transition in Great Britain, characterised by revolutions agricultural and industrial. In 1815, Britain was the wealthiest country in Europe, and its economy was the most developed. Britain was the first country to experience the transformation of its economy and society from a predominantly rural and agricultural mode to a more urban and industrialised configuration. This change was accompanied by a significant increase in population, and unprecedented annual rates of economic growth of between 2 and 3 per cent between 1790 and 1820. The wealthy elite that Austen depicted in her novels lived in county towns and rural villages, in a world of privilege and prosperity that insulated itself from these transformations. Yet the wealth of this elite was derived from, and contributed to, this transforming and industrialising economy.

Despite the important economic transformations of her age, scenes of commerce and industry are largely absent from Austen's novels. Unlike her Victorian successors, her novels do not depict factories belching smoke, and her characters express no enthusiasm for innovative industrial wonders, such as cotton mills, coal-mines and canals. Instead, Austen's novels depict a society at leisure: characters are occupied in taking tea, socialising and practising philanthropy, but they are not shown performing – and indeed do not have – the tasks and duties of any occupation, profession or trade.