Institutions and European Trade - Merchant Guilds, 1000-1800

A magisterial new history of commercial institutions developed through the study of merchant guilds.

List of contents

1. Merchant guilds, efficiency, and social capital; 2. What was a merchant guild?; 3. Local merchant guilds; 4. Alien merchant guilds and companies; 5. Merchant guilds and rulers; 6. Commercial security; 7. Contract enforcement; 8. Principal-agent problems; 9. Information; 10. Price volatility; 11. Institutions, social capital and economic development.

About the author

Sheilagh Ogilvie is Professor of Economic History at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of the British Academy. Her prize-winning publications include State Corporatism and Proto-Industry: The Württemberg Black Forest 1590–1797 (Cambridge, 1997, winner of the Gyorgy Ranki Prize 1999) and A Bitter Living: Women, Markets, and Social Capital in Early Modern Germany (2003, winner of the René Kuczynski Prize 2004).

Summary

A magisterial new history of commercial institutions, this book shows how the study of merchant guilds can help us understand which types of institution made trade grow, why institutions exist, and how corporate privileges affect economic efficiency and human well-being.

Product details

• Authors: Sheilagh Ogilvie, Sheilagh (University of Cambridge) Ogilvie, Ogilvie Sheilagh
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 17.03.2011
• EAN: 9780521764179
• ISBN: 978-0-521-76417-9
• No. of pages: 500
• Series: Cambridge Studies in Economic; Cambridge Studies in Economic; Cambridge Studies in Economic History - Second Series
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Business > International economy; European History, BUSINESS & ECONOMICS / Economic History, Economic history, Early history: c 500 to c 1450/1500, Early modern history: c 1450/1500 to c 1700