Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T16:56:38.819Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

On the Political Foundations of the Late Medieval Commercial Revolution: Genoa During the Twelfth and Thirteenth Centuries

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  03 March 2009

Avner Greif
Avner Greif
Affiliation:
Assistant Professor of Economics at Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Although the late medieval Commercial Revolution is considered to be a watershed in the economic history of Europe, the analysis of the interrelationship between political and economic systems in bringing about this period of economic growth has been neglected. This article conducts such an analysis with respect to the city of Genoa during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Viewing political institutions as self-enforcing agreements rather than as exogenous rules, I present and analyze the nature and evolution of Genoa's political systems and the relations between these systems and economic growth.

Type
Articles
Information
The Journal of Economic History , Volume 54 , Issue 2 , June 1994 , pp. 271 - 287
Copyright
Copyright © The Economic History Association 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Abulafia, David, The Two Italies (Cambridge, MA, 1977).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Annali Genovesi di Caffaro e dei suoi Continuatori, 1099–1240, translated by Ceccardi, Ceccardo Roccatagliata and Monleone, Giovanni (Genoa, 1923–1929), vols. I–IV.Google Scholar
Bairoch, Paul, Batou, Jean, and Chèvre, Pierre, eds., The Population of European Cities from 800 to 1850 (Geneva, 1988).Google Scholar
Byrne, Eugene H., “Genoese Trade with Syria in the Twelfth Century,” American Historical Review, 25 (Feb. 1920), pp. 191–219.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Byrne, Eugene H., “The Genoese Colonies in Syria,” in Paetow, L. J., ed., The Crusade and Other Historical Essays (New York, 1928), pp. 139–82.Google Scholar
Codice Diplomatico della Repubblica di Genova dal MCLXIII [sic] al MCLXXXX [sic], edited by Angelo, Cesare Imperiale di Sant' (Rome, 1936, 1938), vols. I, II.Google Scholar
David, Paul A., “Path-Dependence: Putting the Past into the Future of Economics” (Technical report no. 533, IMSSS, Stanford University, 1988).Google Scholar
Day, Gerald W., Genoa's Response to Byzantium, 1154–1204 (Urbana, IL, 1988).Google Scholar
De Negri, Teoflio Ossian, Storia di Genova (Milan, 1974).Google Scholar
Duby, George, The Early Growth of the European Economy (Ithaca, 1974).Google Scholar
Giovanni Scriba, Cartolare di, 1154–1164, edited by Mario, Chiaudano (Turin, 1935), vols. I, II.Google Scholar
Greif, Avner, “The Institutional Foundations of Genoa's Economic Growth During the Commercial Revolution” (Memorandum, Stanford University, 1993).Google Scholar
Heers, Jacques, Parties and Political Life in the Medieval West (Oxford, 1977).Google Scholar
Hicks, John, A Theory of Economic History (Oxford, 1969).Google Scholar
Hughes, Diane Owen, “Kinsmen and Neighbors in Medieval Genoa,” in Miskimin, H. A., Herlihy, D., and Udovitch, A. L., eds., The Medieval City (New Haven, 1977), pp. 95–111.Google Scholar
Hyde, John K., Society and Politics in Medieval Italy: the Evolution of Civil Life, 1000–1350 (London, 1973).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lopez, Robert Sabatino, Storia Delle Colonie Genovesi Nel Mediterraneo (Bologna, 1938).Google Scholar
Lopez, Robert Sabatino, The Commercial Revolution of the Middle Ages, 950–1350 (London, 1976).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
North, Douglass C, Structure and Change in Economic History (New York, 1981).Google Scholar
North, Douglass C, Institutions, Institutional Change and Economic Performance (Cambridge, MA, 1990).CrossRefGoogle Scholar
North, Douglass C., and Weingast, Barry R., “Constitutions and Commitment: The Evolution of Institutions Governing Public Choice in Seventeenth-Century England,” this Journal, 49 (Dec. 1989), pp. 803–32.Google Scholar
Oberto Scriba de Mercato, 1186, 1190, edited by Mario, Chiaudano and Rocca, R. Morozzo Della (Turin, 1940).Google Scholar
Olivieri, Agostino, Serie dei Consoli del Comune di Genova (Genoa, 1861).Google Scholar
Olson, Mancur, The Rise and Decline of Nations (New Haven, 1982).Google Scholar
Olson, Mancur, “Dictatorship, Democracy, and Development,” American Political Science Review, 87 (09 1993), pp. 567–76.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pertile, Antonio, Storia del Diritto Italiano Dalla Caduta dell' Impero Romano alla Codificazione, 2 vols. (2nd ed., Bologna, 1966).Google Scholar
Rosenberg, Nathan, and Birdzell, L. E. Jr, How the West Grew Rich (New York, 1986).Google Scholar
Vitale, Vito, Il Comune del Podestà Genova, (Milan, 1951).Google Scholar
Vitale, Vito, Breviario della Storia di Genova, 2 vols. (Genoa, 1955).Google Scholar
Waley, Daniel, The Italian City-Republics (Reprint, New York, 1988).Google Scholar