Merchant Associations in Pre-Industrial Europe

Kohn, Meir

doi:10.2139/ssrn.427763

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Merchant Associations in Pre-Industrial Europe

56 Pages Posted: 4 Aug 2003

See all articles by Meir Kohn

Meir Kohn

Dartmouth College - Department of Economics

Date Written: July 2003

Abstract

In pre-industrial Europe, many of the functions performed today by large corporations and governments were performed by merchant associations of various types - merchant guilds, regulated companies, merchant-controlled cities, and merchant colonies. Merchant association provided their members with protection and order, represented them in the rivalry for trade, and helped them overcome the problems of agency and financing. This paper examines the nature, function, and evolution of merchant associations.

JEL Classification: N13, D20, D23, K40, L14, L22

Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation

Kohn, Meir G., Merchant Associations in Pre-Industrial Europe (July 2003). Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=427763 or http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.427763