Theoretical and empirical analysis of merchant populations in early modern Japan

2014 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 25590070
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Challenging Exploratory Research
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Research Field: Economic history
• Research Institution: Tokyo Institute of Technology
• Principal Investigator: MUTO Shigeo 東京工業大学, 社会理工学研究科, 教授 (50126330)
• Co-Investigator(Kenkyū-buntansha): YAMAMURO Kyoko 東京工業大学, 大学院社会理工学研究科, 教授 (00158239) ; OGASAWARA Kota 東京工業大学, 大学院社会理工学研究科, 助教 (00733544) ; LEE Changmin 福岡県立大学, 人間社会学部, 講師 (50632436)
• Project Period (FY): 2013-04-01 – 2015-03-31
• Keywords: 江戸商人 / 数量分析 / 参入と退出

Outline of Final Research Achievements

After creating and analyzing a database of 3,939 Edo merchants, we found that their situation was very different from the prevailing view: namely, an extremely intense entry and exit with a mean continuance of 15.7 years, and an exchange of trade rights (“stocks”) not through blood relationships but through money. Additionally, based on an analysis of business types and shop locations, we found a bipolarized structure, with shops trading in daily necessities such as charcoal and rice having expanded widely throughout all of Edo, while shops trading in luxury goods such as dry goods and medicines were concentrated in the vicinity of Nihonbashi.

Free Research Field

ゲーム理論