First, Iran's merchant class, who are firm supporters of the clerical establishment, are losing lucrative import-export contracts.

ECONOMIST: Iran

The merchant class works in the store by day and goes home at night to enjoy the family meal.

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Although quintessentially rural, the region is famous throughout China for its former merchant class and the notable architecture they left behind.

BBC: Rural adventures in China��s backcountry

Institutions, in the form of a fledgling merchant class, provided momentum for reform, making the difference between the successful French revolution and failed uprisings elsewhere.

ECONOMIST: Creating economic wealth

In the 16th century, when it was at its strongest, the Ottoman empire came within spitting distance of Vienna, its power fueled by superior technology and a strong merchant class.

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The journey can be made today because under-bridges on the rebuilt Swanage Railway were strengthened during the early 1990s to carry Merchant Navy class steam locomotives.

BBC: 'Banned' Clan Line steam locomotive's return trip

His father, Pietro, was a successful cloth merchant in a time when the mercantile class was on the rise and clothes very much made the man.

NEWYORKER: Rich Man, Poor Man

LivingSocial is in the midst of a class-action lawsuit that alleges that LivingSocial and a merchant partner offered vouchers with illegal expiration dates in violation of state and federal gift-card laws.

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By the time he was six his father, a local merchant, had done well enough for himself to join the flight of Cairo's burgeoning middle class to the airier, more modern parts of town.

ECONOMIST: Naguib Mahfouz | The