supply and command

Turner Likes Heidelberg!

It's been a while.....

Mike Carr (Royal Holloway, University of London) has written a review of the "Union in Separation" conference, organised by our institute and held in Heidelberg in February.

 

Business Networks as Complex Systems

Here's an abstract of the paper I presented at the EBHC in Glasgow:

In late medieval Venice, family business networks complemented strong formal institutions of capital generation. Yet the interdependence of public- and private-order institutions has thus far only rudimentarily been explored. This paper interprets a micro-historical case study on a late medieval Venetian family network in terms of complex systems analysis. Comparing the incentive structures of intra-family, intra-Venetian, and transcultural trade partnerships, it devotes particular attention to the respective roles of family representatives and non-kin trade agents. Whereas the latter seem to have profited from individual transactions either by receiving commissions or by being given the benefit of membership in a wider trade coalition, the utility streams of family agents appear to have been internalised to the family enterprise. I propose an internalisation hypothesis that characterises the Venetian merchant family as an institution of collective liability that allowed members to increase their expected future utility streams by resorting to the collective reputation of the family.

Merchant Networks Panel at EBHC

The 14th ANNUAL CONFERENCE OF THE EUROPEAN BUSINESS HISTORY ASSOCIATION 2010 is coming up soon. This time the meeting will be held in lovely Glasgow, Scotland.

Andrea Caracausi has organised a panel on business and merchant networks to which I will be contributing a paper. The aim of the meeting is to explore methodological overlaps between economic  network theory and the historical study of networks. Here's the panel abstract:

"BUSINESS AND MERCHANT NETWORKS IN HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE: TOWARDS A FORMAL APPROACH

During the last decades, the concept of “network” has fascinated historians. Using approaches drawn from other social sciences, business historians, as well as scholars in economic and social history, have tried to explain in terms of network analysis the rise and fall of businesses, families and also institutions such as the State or financial markets. However, the same concept of “network” remains too vague, and the dialogue between scholars of different backgrounds is very poor.

The aim of this session is to fill this gap in economic and business history. Our idea is to start a confrontation of the formal models in use to study and compare networks in history, trying to extend the usual approach to graph statistics (centrality etc.) using a measure of complementarities (drawn from organisational studies) and inserting (or adding) a consideration for conflict and power (asymmetries, inclusion/exclusion) via vectors and similar tools. We propose four exemplary case-studies on different periods (from the pre-modern to the contemporary period) and topics (merchant networks and social networks in the pre-modern period; business networks in 19th and 20th centuries) in order to discuss how a common formal approach could be useful both in the study of business networks and in the dialogue between history and the social sciences."

Was the RAF like the GIMF?

A few weeks ago, following his reading of this New York Times article, a friend asked me about my thoughts on how to prevent the radicalisation of German Muslims. The article reminded me of an essay written by Michael Buback some three years ago on the impending release of the murderers of his father, German Attorney General Siegfried Buback. In it, he draws a parallel between the terrorism of the Red Army Faction (RAF) and today’s prevailing Islamist violence. “Perhaps the terrorists’ hate for this Attorney General”, writes Buback,  “was increased

by the fact that he recognized the enormous dangers of terrorism early (which one would, of course, expect from an official with so much experience in the investigation of crimes against the state) and gave clear warning of the possible dangers. Later events show how correct his warnings were. We now see the ubiquitous threat of terrorism almost daily in news programs. We are confronted with the consequences of terrorist violence every time we board a plane. Leading politicians in free, democratic countries are forced to live subject to intensive security measures. They must often work in areas screened-off from the public, behind security fences and protective walls. Sometimes, in fact, the buildings from outside are so fortress-like that they resemble buildings intended for prisoners. The fact that there are ever more terrorists whose fanaticism drives them to take their own lives in addition to those of strangers makes the planning and execution of measures against terrorist brutality especially difficult.”

I find this comparison intriguing, not only for the historical challenges it poses, but also with respect to

Upcoming Talk

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."

Best Editorial Commentary on Greece

Who writes the best, most lucid and insightful commentaries on the Greek debt crisis, intelligible for a general audience?

It is Times columnist Oliver Kamm. Here's a little linkography to his blog posts on the issue:

• Why the Euro will not be dismantled even if Greece were to default on her debt.
• Why Greece will not leave the Eurozone II.
• Why Greece will not leave the Eurozone I.
• Why Eurozone countries do well in times of crisis.

Oliver also runs an entertaining series on his blog, entitled "Great Historical Questions to Which the Answer is No". Here's my favourite. This one is also worth reading.

A New Economic History?

I have been thinking a lot recently about what I want to achieve in my doctoral studies from a methodological point of view. My PhD thesis is a project in medieval economic history, yet it presents a methodological challenge to the typical modus operandi in medieval studies. This stems mainly from the inclusion of social-scientific concepts and methods that are not commonly used in descriptive historical research. It is my hope that, by highlighting the mutual dependence of historical narrative and theory, their inclusion may contribute towards the solution of an ongoing Methodenstreit in economic history. This post provides a short recap on this debate before outlining my own stance (in still rather rudimentary form).

Document of Commercial Agency

This is a transcription of a fifteenth century merchant letter that I dug out in the State Archive in Venice (I know, it's a bad transcription but my paleographic skills are still rather basic). It's a business representative of a Venice-based merchant reporting back to his superior. Unfortunately, the letter does not reveal where the agent is based.

I won't translate the document for now, instead leaving my readers with the fun of sorting out the late medieval Italian. It's an interesting (and partly entertaining) document that indicates the significance of personal bonds in principal-agent business relationships. 

Al nome de Christo 1418 a die 22 Febraio

da poy la debita salutacion chomo alo charisimo fradelo mio mazor dovi asaver ch'io som bene sano per la grazia de Christo. Ecusy aioria al dir de la vostra sanitade dovi asaver chomo ho recevudo du vy vostre letere de le qual fo molto chontento audir de vostra sanitade esi me de grande consolacion che tu me scrivi che tue guarido elevado di leto si che di questo fo molto contento. Anchora tu me scrivi che tu me mandy dui chavuty di pano e uno tavoler cum 40 tavole e uno par di quanty e duy dozien di stringe e una barila cum le chastane tutte quiste chose sio recevudo. Anchora tu me scrivi alfato de duy charatelii che me lasey che me devese inpyir de bon vino et si te respondo che el vino di qua sie plu charo ch'a Venezia el quarto denar ma nienty di mino. Io si te mando el charatelo picolo per portador de dita che moza 4 ÷ del vino in dito charatelo e si gosta £ 3 s. 10 el mozo e l'altro charatelo non te volsy mandar per amor de la charistia del vino che tu non haby [...] ma nienti di mino. Sy tu vol che ti se manda el dito charatelo e ti lo mandaro per Zorzy da Sibenicho. Scrive me pur. Anchora tu me scrivi per amor de la femena che ti la devese mandar et io te respondo che adeso si te li averia mandado ma per amor che li marinari de mala carne si e tropo zuveni, ma per Zorzy da Sibenicho centa falo si te la mandaro. Anchora tu me scrivi per fato de le martore che te devese cumprar per prizio de s. 40 l'un a quisto prizio e li trovarimo asay. Si mi sapy che ty mando la nostra barila inpyiga de fige e tre bucrilady in puterada d'intro in dita barila e questo si te mando per amor. Anchora si te mando uno scilato vivo per dito portador per questa mon digo Dio sia cum vuy amen.

saludame misser Biazio de parte mia
ere chomandame a luy chomo al mi signor

sapy che te saluda Dobrica sorela de [...]
chon charoso amante

Nicholo di Polo [...]
sempre al vostro chomando

New Social Sciences Journal

My Alma Mater University College London, Department of European Social and Political Studies, has launched a new online journal: European Social and Political Research. The first issue can be found here.

Among the contributions is an article I wrote back in 2007, which is based on my BA thesis. The economic dimension of the public sphere: Jacques Necker's public agenda in 'Compte rendu au roi' is available for download here.