This is what I will talk about at the European Social Science History Conference in Ghent, Belgium, 13-16 April 2010:
"This paper examines the institutional basis of transcultural trade
relationships in the early fifteenth-century Eastern Mediterranean. The notion of transculturality describes the continuity of
informational flows between perceived separate cultural areas (e.g.
“Latin Europe”, “Islamic Levant”, “Byzantium” etc.), which impact upon
economic interaction by shaping mercantile techniques and contractual
dispositions. Integrating this concept to institutional theory may shed
new light on the formation of informal institutional arrangements. Sources used in this study come from the private archive of the Venetian diplomat and merchant Biaggio Dolfin (c. 1370-1420), which contains a
number of documents dealing with aspects of transcultural trade (to be found in the
Archivio di Stato di Venezia, ASVe). An example highlighting potential
gaps in institutional structure is given by a legal quarrel between the
Venetian Vice-Consul of Damietta, Michael Papadopolo, and Nichita
Zamisi, a ship captain from Candia. Zamisi was accused of having
embezzled the cargo entrusted to him by Arab merchants from Jaffa, who
had requested the Vice-Consul of Damietta to act as a guarantor for his
compatriot. This document, alongside similar sources from the same
collection, highlights the consequences of insufficient informal
institutional support to trade. In order to commit their Italian
business partner ex ante to be honest ex post, the Arab merchants had
to rely on the legal system as the ultimate means of
contract-enforcement. Yet the use of informal contract-enforcement
mechanisms was widespread on both sides, as relying purely on the legal
system was an unnecessarily costly option. This research aims at
explaining the basis of informal institutional efficacy, while also
describing the circumstances under which formal economic institutions
had to be called upon as a last resort. Based on the named body of
sources, a theoretical framework of transcultural trade shall be
developed, focusing specifically on the generation of trust between
Venetian traders and business partners of different ethno-religious
backgrounds. Combining institutional theory with a game-theoretic
approach, the paper describes the institutional conditions that
gave rise to various informal mechanisms."
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