What: The organization of business in Early Modern Europe, Session Proposal for the 18th Annual Congress of the European
Business History Association, Call for papers
Where: Universiteit Utrecht, Domplein, 3512, UtrechtWhen: 21-23 August 2014
Deadline: 15 February 2014
All information here
Aim of the Session
Large-scale
enterprises such as the English or Dutch East India Companies loom large over
the business history of early modern Europe because they pioneered the legal
form of the modern corporation. In reality, the majority of private business
enterprises, whether in the commercial or manufacturing sectors, maintained a
family basis. They were normally organized as sole proprietorships or general
partnerships, that is, private enterprises in which owners and managers had the
same decision-making power and shared equally all profits and losses. During
the late Middle Ages, however, merchants across the Mediterranean developed
contractual forms that allowed them to raise funds from outside investors, who
were not involved in managing the business and who remained liable only for
their portion of the investment.
Since Max Weber,
limited liability partnerships have been credited with a crucial role in the
growth of impersonal markets because they allowed merchants to expand the range
of investors beyond their families. We do not know, however, what led to the
adoption of this new form or how widely it spread in Europe. This session will lay the ground for a more ambitious research aiming to
map the relative importance of different kinds of private business organizations
in Europe from 1500 to 1800 and to develop a comparative methodology to explain
geographical and chronological variations. With the session in Utrecht, we want
to take the first step in establishing a network of specialists on different
countries to stimulate empirical research an theoretical reflection on the
organization of business in early modern Europe.
Participants
The aim is to use this session to build a network of economic, social,
and legal historians who do empirical work on the organization of businesses in
various parts of Europe between the fifteenth and early nineteenth century.
Through an open call for papers they will invite junior
scholars in particular to contribute a paper to the session. In addition to
this they will invite a limited number of senior experts in our existing network
(e.g. Sheilagh
Ogilvie, Jean-Laurent Rosenthal, Tracy Dennison, Joost Jonker, Ron Harris,
Jessica Goldberg, Ann Carlos, Naomi Lamoreaux, Tim Guinnane) to comment on the papers presented
by the junior scholars.
Organizers
Oscar Gelderblom, Associate Professor of Economic
History, Utrecht University, works on the history of financial and commercial
institutions, in particular in the Low Countries before the Industrial
Revolution.
Francesca Trivellato, Frederick W. Hilles Professor of
History, Yale University, works at the crossroads of social, economic, and
cultural history with a focus on the Italian and Iberian peninsulas and France.
Contact details
Francesca Trivellato, Department of History Yale University, 320 York Street, P.O. Box 208324
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