Hostname: page-component-8448b6f56d-42gr6 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-19T13:49:54.430Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The secret of Venetian success: a public-order, reputation-based institution

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 December 2008

YADIRA GONZÁLEZ DE LARA
YADIRA GONZÁLEZ DE LARA*
Affiliation:
University of Alicante, Department of Economic Analysis, Campus San Vicente del Raspeig, Alicante E03080, Spain, yadira@merlin.fae.ua.es
Get access

Abstract

This article examines the institutional foundations of the financial market underpinning Venice's commercial success during the late medieval period. A public-order, reputation-based institution enabled merchants to commit (i) not to flee with investors' capital, despite the limited geographical reach of the legal system, and (ii) not to breach their contracts, despite the investors' inability to directly monitor them. Economic rents in Venice motivated merchants to submit to the city's authorities, while tight administrative trading controls provided the information required to verify a contractual breach. These institutional arrangements differed from other public-order and reputation-based institutions that have been considered in the literature.

Type
Research Article
Information
European Review of Economic History , Volume 12 , Issue 3 , December 2008 , pp. 247 - 285
Copyright
Copyright © European Historical Economics Society 2008

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Angelos, M. (1994). Women in Genoese commenda contracts, 1155–1216. Journal of Medieval History 20, pp. 299–312.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Arias, G. (1901). I tratatti commerciali della Reppublica Fiorentina. Florence: Successori le Monnier.Google Scholar
Asthor, E. (1983). Levant Trade in the Later Middle Ages. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Bairoch, P., Batou, J. and Chèvre, P. (1988). The Population of European Cities from 800 to 1850: Data Bank and Short Summary of Results. Geneva: Librarie Droz.Google Scholar
Besta, E. and Predelli, R. (eds.). (1901). Gli statuti civili di Venezia prima del 1242. Nuovo archivio veneto, n.s. 1, pp. 5–117 and 205–300.Google Scholar
Bianco, M., Jappelli, T. and Pagano, M. (2005). Courts and banks: effects of judicial enforcement and credit markets. Journal of Money, Credit, and Banking 37, 2, pp. 223–45.Google Scholar
Borsari, S. (1978). Una famiglia veneziana del medioevo: gli Ziani. Archivio Veneto, ser. 5, 110, pp. 28–72.Google Scholar
Bullard, M. M., Epstein, S. R., Kohl, B. G. and Stuard, S. M. (2004). Where history and theory interact: Frederic C. Lane on the emergence of capitalism. Speculum 79, pp. 88–119.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byrne, E. H. (1917). Commercial contracts of the Genoese in the Syrian trade of the twelfth century. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 31, pp. 128–70.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Caravale, M. (1997). Le istituzioni della Repubblica. In Arnaldi, G., Cracco, G. and Tenenti, A. (eds.), Storia di Venezia, vol. 3, pp. 299–364. Rome: Ist. dell'Encicl. Ital. fondata da G. Treccani.Google Scholar
Cassandro, G. I. (1936). La Curia di Petizion. Archivio veneto, ser. 5, 19, pp. 72–144.Google Scholar
Cassandro, G. I. (1937). La Curia di Petizion. Archivio veneto, ser. 5, 20, pp. 1–201.Google Scholar
Cassandro, G. I. (1938). Le rappresaglie e il fallimento a Venezia nei secoli XIII–XVI (vol. 14 of Documenti e studi per la storia del commercio e del diritto commerciale italiano). Turin: Lattes.Google Scholar
Castagnetti, A. (1992). Famiglie e affermazione politica. In Ruggini, L. C., Pavan, M., Cracco, G. and Ortalli, G. (eds.), Storia di Venezia, vol. 1, pp. 577–612. Rome: Ist. dell'Encicl. Ital. fondata da G. Treccani .Google Scholar
Castagnetti, A. (1995). Il primo comune. In Ruggini, L. C., Pavan, M., Cracco, G. and Ortalli, G. (eds.), Storia di Venezia, vol. 2, pp. 81–130. Rome: Ist. dell'Encicl. Ital. fondata da G. Treccani.Google Scholar
Cessi, R. (ed.). (1938). Gli statuti veneziani di Jacopo Tiepolo del 1242 e le loro glosse. Memorie dell'Istituto veneto di scienze, lettere ed arti 30.2.Google Scholar
Cessi, R. (1963 and 1965). Venezia ducale. Venice: Deputazione di Storia Patria per le Venezie.Google Scholar
Chojnacki, S. (1973). In search of the Venetian patriciate: families and factions in the fourteenth century. In Hale, J.R. (ed.), Renaissance Venice. London: Faber and Faber, pp. 47–90.Google Scholar
Cipolla, C. M. (1993). Before the Industrial Revolution: European Society and Economy, 1000–1700, 3rd edition. London: Routledge (1st edition 1976).Google Scholar
Clay, K. (1997). Trade without law: private-order institutions in Mexican California. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 13, 1, pp. 202–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Day, G. W. (1984). The impact of the Third Crusade upon trade with the Levant. International History Review 3, pp. 159–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Roover, R. (1963). The organization of trade. In Cambridge Economic History of Europe, vol. 3, pp. 42–118. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Dixit, A. K. (2004). Lawlessness and Economics: Alternative Modes of Governance. Princeton: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Djankov, S., La Porta, R., Lopez-de-Silanes, F. and Shleifer, A. (2003). Courts. Quarterly Journal of Economics 118, 2, pp. 457–522.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Dotson, J. E. (1999). Fleet operations in the first Genoese-Venetian war, 1264–1266. Viator. Medieval and Renaissance Studies 30, pp. 165–80.Google Scholar
Epstein, S. A. (1996). Genoa and the Genoese. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Fafchamps, M. (2004). Market Institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa: Theory and Evidence. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Ferluga, J. (1992). Veneziani fuori Venezia. In Ruggini, L. C., Pavan, M., Cracco, G. and Ortalli, G. (eds.). Storia di Venezia, vol. 1, pp. 693–722. Rome: Ist. dell'Encicl. Ital. fondata da G. Treccani.Google Scholar
Gasparini, S. (2007). Venice and its law system. http://147.162.217.112:90/prospero/gaspbiblio.htmGoogle Scholar
Gasparri, S. (1992). Dagli Orseolo al Comune. In Ruggini, L. C, Pavan, M., Cracco, G. and Ortalli, G. (eds.). Storia di Venezia, vol. 1, pp. 791–826. Rome: Ist. dell'Encicl. Ital. fondata da G. Treccani.Google Scholar
Glaeser, E. L. and Shleifer, A. (2003). The rise of the regulatory state. Journal of Economic Literature 41, pp. 401–25.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Glaeser, E. L., Johnson, S. and Shleifer, A. (2001). Coase versus the Coasians. The Quarterly Journal of Economics 116, pp. 853–99.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
González de Lara, Y. (2007) Institutions, information, and contracts: from debt to equity in late medieval Venice. Mimeo. Stanford University and University of Alicante.Google Scholar
Greif, A. (1989). Reputation and coalitions in medieval trade: evidence on the Maghribi traders. The Journal of Economic History 49, pp. 857–82.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greif, A. (1993). Contract enforceability and economic institutions in early trade: the Maghribi traders' coalition. American Economic Review 83, 1, pp. 525–48.Google Scholar
Greif, A. (1994a). Cultural beliefs and the organization of society: a historical and theoretical reflection on collectivist and individualist societies. Journal of Political Economy 102, 5, pp. 912–50.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greif, A. (1994b). On the political foundations of the late medieval commercial revolution: Genoa during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. The Journal of Economic History 54, 4, pp. 271–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greif, A. (1995). Political organizations, social structures, and institutional success: reflections from Genoa and Venice during the commercial revolution. The Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics 151, 4, pp. 734–40.Google Scholar
Greif, A. (1998). Historical Institutional Analysis. Mimeo. Stanford University.Google Scholar
Greif, A. (2004). Impersonal exchange without impartial law: the community responsibility system. Chicago Journal of International Law 5, 1, pp. 107–36.Google Scholar
Greif, A. (2006). Institutions and the Path to the Modern Economy: Lessons from Medieval Trade. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Greif, A., Milgrom, P. R. and Weingast, B. R. (1994). Coordination, commitment and enforcement: the case of the merchant guild. Journal of Political Economy 102, pp. 745–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Guinnane, T. W. (2001). Cooperatives as information machines: German rural credit cooperatives, 1883–1914. The Journal of Economic History 61, 2, pp. 366–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hickson, C. R. and Thompson, E. A. (1991). A new theory of guilds and European economic development. Explorations in Economic History 28, 2, pp. 138–9.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hocquet, J. C. (1997). I mecanismi dei traffici. In Arnaldi, G., Cracco, G. and Tenenti, A. (eds.). Storia di Venezia, vol. 3, pp. 299–364. Rome: Ist. dell'Encicl. Ital. fondata da G. Treccani.Google Scholar
Hoffman, P. T., Postel-Vinay, G. and Rosenthal, J. L. (2000). Priceless Markets: The Political Economy of Credit in Paris, 1660–1870. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Jacoby, D. (1994). Italian privileges and trade in Byzantium before the Fourth Crusade: a reconsideration. Annuario de estudios medievales, 24, pp. 349–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jacoby, D. (1995a). La Venezia d'oltremare nel secondo Duecento. In Cracco, G. and Ortalli, G. (eds.). Storia di Venezia, vol. 2, pp. 263–302. Rome: Ist. dell’ Encicl. Ital. fondata da G. Treccani.Google Scholar
Jacoby, D. (1995b). La dimensione demografica e sociale. In Cracco, G. and Ortalli, G. (eds.). Storia di Venezia, vol. 2, pp. 681–709. Rome: Ist. dell'Encicl. Ital. fondata da G. Treccani.Google Scholar
Jacoby, D. (2003) Foreigners and the urban economy in Thessalonike, 1150–1450. Dumbarton Oaks Papers, 57, pp. 85–132 (Symposium on Late Byzantine Thessalonike).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Johnson, S., McMillan, J. and Woodruf, C. (2002). Courts and relational contracts. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 18, 2, pp. 221–77.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kraakman, R. H. (1986). Gatekeepers: the anatomy of a third-party enforcement strategy. Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 2, 1, pp. 53–104.Google Scholar
Krueger, H. C. (1962). The Genoese traveling merchant in the twelfth century. The Journal of Economic History 22, pp. 251–83.Google Scholar
La Monte, J. L. (1932). Feudal Monarchy in the Latin Kingdom of Jerusalem, 1100 to 1291. Cambridge, MA: Medieval Academy of America.Google Scholar
Lane, F. C. (1963). Recent studies on the economic history of Venice. The Journal of Economic History 23, pp 312–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lane, F. C. (1966). Venice and History: The Collected Papers of Frederic C. Lane. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lane, F. C. (1967). Andrea Barbarigo, Merchant of Venice, 1418–1449. New York: Octagon Books Inc.Google Scholar
Lane, F. C. (1973). Venice. A Maritime Republic. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lane, F. C. (1977). Double entry bookkeeping and resident merchants. Journal of European Economic History 6, pp. 177–91.Google Scholar
Lane, F. C. (1979). Profits from Power: Readings in Protection Rent and Violence-Controlling Enterprises. Albany: State University of New York Press.Google Scholar
Lattes, A. (1880). Il fallimento nel diritto commune e nella legislazione bancaria della Reppubblica di Venezia. Venice: Tip. del commercio di M. Visentini.Google Scholar
La Porta, R., Lopez-de-Silanes, F. and Shleifer, A. (2006). What works in securities laws. The Journal of Finance 61, 1, pp. 1–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lopez, R. S. (1938). Storia delle colonie genovesi nel Mediterraneo. Bologna: Zanichelli.Google Scholar
Lopez, R. S. (1976). The Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages, 959–1350. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lopez, R. S. (1982). Il commercio dell'Europa medievale: il Sud. In Postan, M. M. and Rich, E. E. (eds.), Storia economica Cambridge II: commercio e inustria nel Medioevo. Turin: Einaudi.Google Scholar
Luzzatto, G. (1929). I prestiti della Reppubblica di Venezia. Padua: Libreria editrice A. Draghi.Google Scholar
Luzzatto, G. (1952). Studi di storia economica veneziana. Padua: Cedam.Google Scholar
Luzzatto, G. (1962). Storia economica di Venezia dall'XI all'XVI secolo. Venice: Centro Internazionale delle Arti e del Costume.Google Scholar
Marrella, F. and Mozzato, A. (2002). Alle origini dell'arbitrato commerciale internazionale. L'arbitrato a Venezia tra medioevo ed età moderna (vol. 53 of Studi e pubblicazioni della Rivista di diritto internazionale privato e processuale). Padua: CEDAM.Google Scholar
Milgrom, P. l., North, D. C. and Weingast, B. R. (1990). The role of institutions in the revival of trade: the medieval law merchant, private judges, and the Champagne fairs. Economics and Politics 1, 2, pp. 1–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moriguchi, C. (2003). Implicit contracts, the great depression, and institutional change: a comparative analysis of US and Japanese employment relations, 1920–1940. The Journal of Economic History 63, pp. 625–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Morozzo della Rocca, R. and Lombardo, A. (1940). Documenti del commercio veneziano nei secoli XI–XIII (2 vols.). Turin: Editrice Libraria Italiana.Google Scholar
Morozzo della Rocca, R. and Lombardo, A. (1953). Nuovi documenti del commercio veneziano nei secoli XI–XIII. Treviso: Deputazione di Storia Patria per le Venezie, n.s. 7.Google Scholar
Mueller, R. C. (1997). The Venetian Money Market: Banks, Panics, and the Public Debt, 1200–1500. Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
North, D. C. (1981). Structure and Change in Economic History. New York: Norton.Google Scholar
North, D. C. (1990). Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Norwich, J. J. (1989). A History of Venice. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Posner, R. (1973). Economic Analysis of Law. Boston, MA: Little, Brown, and Co.Google Scholar
Pozza, M. (1995). I propietari fondiari in terraferma. In Ruggini, L. C., Pavan, M., Cracco, G. and Ortalli, G. (eds.). Storia di Venezia, vol. 2, pp. 81–130. Rome: Ist. dell'Encicl. Ital. fondata da G. Treccani.Google Scholar
Prawer, J. (1973). I veneziani e le colonie veneziane nel Regno di Gerusalemme. In Pertusi, A. (ed.), Venezia e il Levante fino al secolo XV. Florence: Olschki.Google Scholar
Predelli, R. and Sacerdoti, A. (eds.) (1902–3). Gli statuti maritimi veneziani fino al 1255. Nuovo archivio veneto, n.s. 2, 4 and 5.Google Scholar
Pryor, J. H. (1983). Mediterranean commerce in the Middle Ages: a voyage under commenda. Viator. Medieval and Renaissance Studies 14, pp. 132–94.Google Scholar
Pryor, J. H. (1984). Commenda: the operation of the contract in long distance commerce at Marseilles during the thirteenth century. Journal of European Economic History 13, pp. 397–440.Google Scholar
Rauch, J. E. (2001). Business and social networks in international trade. Journal of Economic Literature 39, pp. 1177–1203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ravegnani, G. (1995a). La Romania veneziana. In Ruggini, L. C., Pavan, M., Cracco, G. and Ortalli, G. (eds.), Storia di Venezia, vol. 2, pp. 183–232. Rome: Ist. dell'Encicl. Ital. fondata da G. Treccani.Google Scholar
Ravegnani, G. (1995b). Tra i due imperi. L'affirmazione politica nel XII secolo. In Ruggini, L. C., Pavan, M., Cracco, G. and Ortalli, G (eds.). Storia di Venezia, vol. 2, pp. 33–80. Rome: Ist. dell'Encicl. Ital. fondata da G. Treccani.Google Scholar
Robbert, L. B. (1983). Twelfth-century Italian prices. Social Science History 7, pp. 381–403.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robbert, L. B. (1994). Money and prices in thirteenth-century Venice. Journal of Medieval History 20, pp. 373–90.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Robbert, L. B. (1999). Domenico Gradenigo: a thirteenth-century Venetian Merchant. In Kittel, E. E. and Madden, T. F. (eds.), Medieval and Renaissance Venice. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.Google Scholar
Roberti, M. (1906). Le magistrature giudizirie veneziane e i loro capitolari fino al 1300. Padua: R. Deputazione Veneta di Storia Patria.Google Scholar
Rösch, G. (1989). Der Venezianische Adel bis zur Schließung des Großen Rats. Zur Genese einer Führungsschicht (Kieler Historische Studien, 33). Sigmaringen: Thorbecke.Google Scholar
Rösch, G. (1995a). Lo sviluppo mercantile. In Ruggini, L. C., Pavan, M., Cracco, G. and Ortalli, G. (eds.), Storia di Venezia, vol. 2, pp. 131–51. Rome: Ist. dell'Encicl. Ital. fondata da G. Treccani.Google Scholar
Rösch, G. (1995b). Il gran guadagno. In Ruggini, L. C, Pavan, M., Cracco, G. and Ortalli, G. (eds.), Storia di Venezia, vol. 2, pp. 183–232. Rome: Ist. dell'Encicl. Ital. fondata da G. Treccani.Google Scholar
Rösch, G. (1995c). Le strutture commerciali. In Ruggini, L. C, Pavan, M., Cracco, G. and Ortalli, G. (eds.), Storia di Venezia, vol. 2, pp. 437–60. Rome: Ist. dell'Encicl. Ital. fondata da G. Treccani.Google Scholar
Sacerdoti, A. (1899–1900). Le colleganze nella pratica degli affari e nella legislazione veneta. Atti del Reale Istituto Veneto di scienze, lettere ed arti 59, pp. 1–45.Google Scholar
Sanudo, M. (1900). Le vite dei Dogi, ed. Monticolo, Giovanni. In L. A. Muratori, Rerum Italicarum Scriptores, vol. XXII, part IV. Città di Castello: S. Lapi.Google Scholar
Shavell, S. (1984). A model of the optimal use of liability and safety regulation. Rand Journal of Economics 15, 2, pp. 271–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Shleifer, A. and Vishny, R. W. (1998). The Grabbing Hand: Government Pathologies and their Cures. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.Google Scholar
Stone, A. (2007). Manuel I Comnenus. In De Imperatoribus Romanis: An Online Encyclopedia of Roman Emperors. www.roman-emperors.org/mannycom.htmGoogle Scholar
Takada, K. (1995). Aspetti della vita parentale della nobilità veneziananel duecento. L'esempio della famiglia Viaro del ramo di San Maurizio. Archivio veneto, ser. 5, 180, pp. 5–29.Google Scholar
Williamson, D. V. (2002). Transparency and contract selection: evidence from the financing of trade in Venetian Crete, 1303–1351. Mimeo.Google Scholar
Williamson, O. E. (1975). Markets and Hierarchies: Analysis and Antitrust Implications. New York: Free Press.Google Scholar
Williamson, O. E. (2000). The new Institutional economics: taking stock, looking ahead. Journal of Economic Literature 38, pp. 595–613.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Yang, Mu. (2000). Transacting with the emperor: public finance in imperial China. Mimeo, Stanford University.Google Scholar
Zordan, G. (1966). I vari aspetti della comunione familiare di beni nella Venezia dei secoli XI-XII. Studi veneziani 8, pp. 127–94.Google Scholar