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What lessons can we draw from the Champagne Fairs?

Author

Listed:
  • Sheilagh Ogilvie

    (University of Cambridge)

  • Jeremy Edwards

    (University of Cambridge)

Abstract

"The medieval Champagne fairs are widely used to draw lessons about the institutional basis for long-distance impersonal exchange. This paper re-examines the causes of the outstanding success of the Champagne fairs in mediating international trade, the timing and causes of the fairs’ decline, and the institutions for securing property rights and enforcing contracts at the fairs. It finds that contract enforcement at the fairs did not take the form of private-order or corporative mechanisms, but was provided by public institutions. More generally, the success and decline of the Champagne fairs depended crucially on the policies adopted by the public authorities."

Suggested Citation

  • Sheilagh Ogilvie & Jeremy Edwards, 2011. "What lessons can we draw from the Champagne Fairs?," Working Papers 11007, Economic History Society.
    • Handle: RePEc:ehs:wpaper:11007
    as

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    File URL: http://www.ehs.org.uk/dotAsset/ef150ec9-c202-47bb-9d44-51305734dd33.pdf
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Paul R. Milgrom & Douglass C. North & Barry R. Weingast*, 1990. "The Role Of Institutions In The Revival Of Trade: The Law Merchant, Private Judges, And The Champagne Fairs," Economics and Politics, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 2(1), pages 1-23, March.
    2. Jeff Davidson & Alfons Weersink, 1998. "What Does It Take for a Market to Function?," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 20(2), pages 558-572.
    3. Avner Greif, 2002. "Institutions and Impersonal Exchange: From Communal to Individual Responsibility," Journal of Institutional and Theoretical Economics (JITE), Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, vol. 158(1), pages 168-204, March.
    4. Munro, John H., 2000. "The 'New Institutional Economics' and the Changing Fortunes of Fairs in Medieval and Early Modern Europe: the Textile Trades, Warfare, and Transaction Costs," MPRA Paper 11029, University Library of Munich, Germany, revised Feb 2001.
    5. Greif, Avner & Milgrom, Paul & Weingast, Barry R, 1994. "Coordination, Commitment, and Enforcement: The Case of the Merchant Guild," Journal of Political Economy, University of Chicago Press, vol. 102(4), pages 745-776, August.
    6. Ogilvie Sheilagh, 2005. "The Use and Abuse of Trust: Social Capital and its Deployment by Early Modern Guilds," Jahrbuch für Wirtschaftsgeschichte / Economic History Yearbook, De Gruyter, vol. 46(1), pages 15-52, June.
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    Cited by:

    1. Ferrali, Romain, 2012. "The Maghribi industrialists: contract enforcement in the Moroccan industry, 1956-82," Economic History Working Papers 45680, London School of Economics and Political Science, Department of Economic History.

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    JEL classification:

    • N00 - Economic History - - General - - - General

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