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Merchants, institutions and the market: changes in the salt trade in early colonial Bengal

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Author Info
Sayako Kanda () (Graduate School of Economics, Osaka University)
Abstract

This paper explores the transformation of the economy and society in early colonial Bengal, roughly between c.1780 and c.1840, through a case study of the salt trade and its changes. It argues that several private trade institutions, particularly various types of intermediaries at different stages of transactions and multi-caste elite organisations, enabled a large flow of commodities, cash, credit and information despite regional and functional divisions in the market as well as social divisions among merchants. The coming of the British led to an expansion of the market and opened up various commercial opportunities to the socially inferior eamateurf merchants, and this led to a confusion in mercantile communities and necessitated a new order among them. By strengthening the functions of those private trade institutions and utilising the new British legal system, mercantile communities managed to accommodate these new merchants and respond to the increased volume of trade.

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File URL: http://www2.econ.osaka-u.ac.jp/library/global/dp/0802.pdf
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Paper provided by Osaka University, Graduate School of Economics and Osaka School of International Public Policy (OSIPP) in its series Discussion Papers in Economics and Business with number 08-02.

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Length: 23 pages
Date of creation: Jan 2008
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Handle: RePEc:osk:wpaper:0802

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Web page: http://www.econ.osaka-u.ac.jp/
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Related research
Keywords: Colonial Transition Economic History of India Private Trade Institutions Intermediaries English East India Company

Find related papers by JEL classification:
N45 - Economic History - - Government, War, Law, and Regulation - - - Asia including Middle East
N75 - Economic History - - Economic History: Transport, International and Domestic Trade, Energy, and Other Services - - - Asia including Middle East
Z13 - Other Special Topics - - Cultural Economics - - - Social Norms and Social Capital; Social Networks Economic Anthropology

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This page was last updated on 2008-11-12.

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