Risk, credit and kinship in early modern enterprise

Social capital and economic performance: trust and distrust in eighteenth-century gold shipments from Brazil

“…It enlarges the scope of earlier historical studies which have focused on similar topics (Hancock 1997;Mathias 2000;Pedreira 1995), but also suggests that a similarly formalized network analysis for further comparative studies on the role of trust in organizational performance is necessary. Itinerancy has a value that has previously been overlooked, particularly regarding its emergence in a context of social capital depletion.…”

“…See the pioneering study byPrice (1996). For a general survey on history of risk in early modern entrepreneurship, seeMathias (2000). As far as the Iberian case is concerned, this issue has focused on converted Jews.…”

Pursuing Her Profits: Women in Jamaica, Atlantic Slavery and a Globalising Market, 1700–60

“…In the absence of institutional banking, credit rating and professional auditing, personal knowledge of one's reputation was an essential condition for the extension of capital and credit. 62 Indeed, personal connections were often essential to financial relationships, and vice versa. In Jamaica, these connections crossed gender and racial boundaries.…”

“…In doing so, Shanks -a widow who possessed the sole right to her family estate -ensured that control of her business would remain in female hands. 81 The significance of same-sex business connections should not be overstated, however. Shanks and the other women of commerce more often than not engaged with men in financial and commercial matters, and such men gave no indication that conducting business with women was unusual.…”

Communication Breakdown: Information and Risk in Spanish Atlantic World Trade during an Era of ‘Free Trade’ and War

“…Such agents were often family members who could best be trusted to pursue the interests of their relations (see Adelman 2006, 44Á46;Brading 1971, 112Á13; Hoberman 1991, 64Á68; Kicza 1983, 60;Pike 1972). In this regard the Spaniards acted little differently than their counterparts in other corners of the Atlantic world (Bailyn 1953, 380Á82;Mathias 2000).…”