1.

Record Nr.

UNINA9910786841103321

Autore

Baskes Jeremy <1961->

Titolo

Staying afloat [[electronic resource] ] : risk and uncertainty in Spanish Atlantic world trade, 1760-1820 / / Jeremy Baskes

Pubbl/distr/stampa

Stanford, Calif., : Stanford University Press, 2013

ISBN

0-8047-8635-6

Descrizione fisica

1 online resource (xiv, 393 pages) : illustrations (black and white)

Collana

Social Science History

Social science history

Disciplina

382.0946/01821

Soggetti

Risk management - Spain - History

Merchant marine - Spain - History

Marine insurance - Spain - History

Spain Colonies America History

Spain Commerce America History

America Commerce Spain History

Lingua di pubblicazione

Inglese

Formato

Materiale a stampa

Livello bibliografico

Monografia

Note generali

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Nota di bibliografia

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Nota di contenuto

Introduction : risk and uncertainty -- Staying informed : the risks of poor information in Atlantic world trade -- The institutions of trade and the reduction of market risk : the convoy system -- Comercio libre and the rise of commercial risk -- The rising demand for credit and the escalation of risk in the post-1778 era -- Trade in war and peace -- Underwriting risk : the structure and organization of insurance partnerships in late eighteenth-century Cadiz -- Insuring against risk : analysis of insurance policies and the perception of risk in Atlantic world trade -- War and commercial crisis : the profitability of the Cadiz insurance industry in the 1790s -- Conclusion : staying afloat.

Sommario/riassunto

Early modern, long-distance trade was fraught with risk and uncertainty, driving merchants to seek means to reduce them. In the traditional historiography on Spanish colonial trade, the role of risk is largely ignored. Instead, the guild (consulado) merchants are depicted as anti-competitive monopolists who manipulated markets and exploited colonial consumers. This book argues that much of the commercial behaviour interpreted by modern historians as predatory



was instead designed to reduce the uncertainty and risk of Atlantic world trade.