How did economic changes affect Europeans?

1.

Merchants gained wealth, and the middle class prospered. Nobles did

poorly, as the land they owned brought fewer benefits. Peasants

either felt little change or suffered, falling into poverty. By the

1700s, European societies were still divided into distinct social

classes. Merchants who invested in overseas ventures developed

wealth, while the price revolution hurt nobles, whose wealth was in

land. Economic changes took generations, even centuries, to be felt

by the majority of Europeans, who were still peasants. The

merchants and skilled workers of Europe's growing cities thrived.

Middle-class families enjoyed a comfortable life. In contrast,

hired laborers and those who served the middle and upper classes

often lived in crowded quarters on the edge of poverty.