Information asymmetries and craft guilds in pre‐modern markets: evidence from Italian proto‐industry

Abstract

This article analyses the relationship between guilds and information asymmetries using a large database of quality disputes from early modern Italy. It finds that a high‐quality urban textile industry was able to solve externalities using a range of ex ante and ex post monitoring mechanisms based on private market relationships and fair sanctions which effectively reduced adverse selection and information asymmetries. Instead, when guilds did use their quality regulations, the effect of the guild on information asymmetries and the industry as a whole was generally negative, by providing mechanisms that could be manipulated by entrenched interest groups for rent‐seeking purposes.

Introduction. Un encastrement social du commerce ?

“…Ainsi, sans aller jusqu'à nier le rôle des corporations dans une perspective de longue durée, le poids des activités rurales suggère de revenir sur le rôle de ces institutions en sortant d'une focalisation sur l'exercice d'un contrôle disciplinaire du travail. Dans le sillage d'une série de travaux qui interrogent à nouveaux frais le rôle économiquevoire entrepreneurialdes corporations (Epstein and Prack 2008 ;De Munck 2011, 2018Caracausi 2017), les articles présentés dans ce dossier permettent ainsi d'appréhender les corporations en les rapportant à des configurations spécifiques, variant en fonction des lieux et des périodes. Dans les villes italiennes de la Renaissance, Mathieu Scherman aborde les corporations, sans s'y attarder, comme des points de passage dans des stratégies familiales.…”

Small businesses in the global market: evidence from the fashion system of Vicenza province (Italy)

“…Studies on Veneto's and Vicenza's 'fashion system' focused first of all on its century-long history; on the role of industrial districts and clusters; and on its resilience to market transformation and crisis. The sector experienced a remarkable development from the late Middle Ages, when home spinning and weaving where inserted in highly competitive, proto-industrial networks (Riello, 2013;Caracausi, 2017. From the early 19 th century it was deeply industrialized, and major factories, often integrated into company towns in the pre-alpine area, transformed economy, landscape and social life (Fontana, 2004;Roverato, 2004, Leoni, 2017.…”

Feudal bargain in Prague: The rise, spread, and fall of craft guilds

“…A growing body of literature suggests that occupational guilds played a crucial role in these functions. Guilds were a particularly important source of taxes, loans, and other revenues (Dessí and Piccolo, 2016; Lindberg, 2009; Ogilvie, 2011, 2014, 2019) as well as public services such as administration, market supervision, trade reputation, and even provision of public goods (Caracausi, 2017; Gustafsson, 1987; Hickson and Thompson, 1991; Prak, 2006a, 2006b; Richardson, 2005; Stabel, 2004). Such a system could only work if its obligations and rewards were balanced.…”