Institutional Analysis of North German Merchant Networks in the Early Modern Times

2015 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 26885052
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Research Activity Start-up
• Allocation Type: Single-year Grants
• Research Field: Economic history
• Research Institution: Kagawa University
• Principal Investigator: Kikuchi Yuta 香川大学, 経済学部, 准教授 (00735566)
• Project Period (FY): 2014-08-29 – 2016-03-31
• Keywords: 経済史 / 商業史 / ヨーロッパ / 制度 / ネットワーク / 中近世

Outline of Final Research Achievements

After the survey of literature, I researched primary sources in the German archives. On the basis of the sources researched in 2014, I revealed the relationship between institutional frameworks and mercantile networks in the early modern Hamburg. The findings were published in an article.
In the archival research in 2015, I found a set of important materials about smuggling. In the early modern German terrain, it was difficult to put forward commercial transactions because efficient institutions lacked. Numerous German territorial stats burdened them by the collection of tolls. In the war times there were no institutional arrangements for merchants to protect their properties. One of their countermeasure was smuggling. To enable such activity, the networks among merchants were essential. In August at the World Economic History Congress in Kyoto, I read a paper on this matter. Then I finished a paper as a contribution for an edited book on commercial history. The publication is expected.

Free Research Field

経済史