Institutions of Hanseatic trade : studies on the political economy of a medieval network organisation / / Ulf Christian Ewert, Stephan Selzer

• Record Nr.: UNINA9910158665703321
• Autore: Ewert Ulf Christian <1966->
• Pubbl/distr/stampa: Peter Lang International Academic Publishing Group, 2016; Frankfurt am Main, [Germany] : , : Peter Lang Edition, , 2016; ©2016
• ISBN: 3-653-05851-1; 3-631-69752-X
• Descrizione fisica: 1 online resource (198 pages) : illustrations, maps
• Disciplina: 382.09479048
• Soggetti: History / Europe; History; Hansa towns History; Baltic Sea Region Commerce History
• Lingua di pubblicazione: Inglese
• Formato: Materiale a stampa
• Livello bibliografico: Monografia
• Nota di bibliografia: Includes bibliographical references.
• Nota di contenuto: Cover -- Contents -- Foreword -- Chapter 1: Hanse History and Economics – a New Institutional Economics Perspective on Hanseatic Trade -- Points of Departure -- Hanse Research, the Economy and Economics -- New Institutional Economics and the Hanse – a Challenge -- Chapter 2: Reputation, Trust and Culture – the Network Structure of Hanseatic Trade and its Benefits -- Hanseatic Trade and its Historiographical Evaluation -- The Network Structure of Hanseatic Trade -- Coordination of the Network Trade System -- An Economic Assessment of the Hanse’s Network Organisation of Trade -- Concluding Remarks -- Chapter 3: A "Small World" – Reconstruction and Meaning of the Hansards' Social Networks -- Network Analysis as a Method to Describe Social Structure -- Social Networks within the Hanse – Examples and Corresponding Sources -- Chapter 4: Bridging Distances and Filling Gaps – Strategies to Handle Heterogeneous Commercial Environments -- Extension of European Trade to the Baltic Sea – Merchants and Cities -- Unequal Hanseatic Commercial Settings – Sources of Heterogeneity -- Bridging and Filling the Gap – Strategies to ; Balance the Effects of Heterogeneity -- Success and Failure of Hanseatic Strategies to Cope with Heterogeneity -- Chapter 5: State of Cities, Commercial Trust, or Virtual Organisation? – Structure and Coordination of the Hanse -- The Paradoxical Outward Appearance of the Hanse -- Structure of the Hanse -- Problems of Coordination and Institutions to Enhance Cooperation -- Chapter 6: Competitive Advantage or Limit to Business? – Contingency and Path Dependence -- The Context of the Hanseatic Network Organisation -- Economic Effects of the Hanseatic Network Organisation -- The Development of the Hanse’s Network Organisation and Path Dependence -- Chapter 7: Perspectives of Research into Hanseatic Trade – the Impact of the Model of Network Organisation -- A Short Look Back -- Methodological Advances and Newly Published Sources -- Network Organisation as a Formative Pattern of Pre-modern Trade -- The Hanse as a Political Organisation -- The Structural Change around the Year 1500 -- Insights Relevant to Historical Economics of Trade -- Bibliography.
• Sommario/riassunto: The merchants of the medieval Hanse monopolised trade in the Baltic and North Sea areas. The authors describe the structure of their trade system in terms of network organisation and attempts to explain, on the grounds of institutional economics, the coordination of the merchants' commercial exchange by reputation, trust and culture. The institutional economics approach also allows for a comprehensive analysis of coordination problems arising between merchants, towns and the "Kontore". Due to the simplicity and flexibility of network trade the Hansards could bridge the huge gap in economic development between the West and the East. In the changing economic conditions around 1500, however, exactly these characteristics proved to be a serious limit to further retain their trade monopoly.