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Networks, Institutions, and Uncertainty: Information Exchange in Early-Modern Markets

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 September 2018

Emily Erikson  and
Sampsa Samila
Emily Erikson*
Affiliation:
Associate Professor, Yale University, Department of Sociology, 493 College St., New Haven, CT, 06520.
Sampsa Samila*
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor, IESE Business School, Av Pearson 21, 080034 Barcelona, Spain.
*
E-mail: emily.erikson@yale.edu
E-mail: ssamila@iese.edu
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Abstract

We analyze patterns of informal information exchange by the English East India Company’s captains to assess the role of relational and institutional governance systems and uncertainty in encouraging information exchange. Using archival data from the emerging early-modern global trade network, we show that uncertainty drove information exchange. Relational-based contract enforcement mechanisms such as small group exchange were largely absent, and increasing institutional strength was associated with decreasing rates of information exchange. The results suggest that opportunity and demand were more important determinants of information exchange than the emergence of formal and informal governance systems.

Type
Research Article
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 78 , Issue 4 , December 2018 , pp. 1034 - 1067
Copyright
© 2018 The Economic History Association. All rights reserved. 

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Footnotes

The authors would like to thank John Campbell, Damon Centola, David Krackhardt, Richard Lachmann, James Lincoln, Adam Slez, Mattias Smangs, and participants of the Networks and Governance Conference at National University of Singapore Business School and the Annenberg School of Communication’s Network Dynamics Group as well as the editor and the anonymous reviewers for insightful comments and feedback. We acknowledge the financial support of the Centre for Law and Business at the National University of Singapore.

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