The extralegal development of securities trading in seventeenth-century Amsterdam

Self-enforcing norms and efficient non-cooperative collective action in the provision of public goods

“…A further example of spontaneous economic order is the development of securities trading in Amsterdam. Stringham (2003) analyses this phenomenon and highlights the importance of reputation and repeated interaction. Benson (1989) discusses several key aspects that were important for how and why commercial law could evolve as a spontaneous means to settle dispute.…”

Common law and economic efficiency

“…Mussachio (2008, p. 80) concludes, "there is too much variation over time in terms of bond market size, creditor protections, and court enforcement of bond contracts to assume that the adoption of a legal system can constrain future financial development." If one looks to the world's first two successful stock markets in 17th century Amsterdam (not in a common law country) and 18th century London (in a common law country), the fact that government did not enforce most contracts, yet markets developed, indicates that limited government intervention and successful self-policing were far more important than any positive legal action (Stringham 2002(Stringham , 2003. Such findings lend support to Zywicki's (2003) hypothesis that if one wants to understand the legal order in a country, one must look to more than just government courts.…”

Anarchism and Austrian Economics

“…12 Though I would argue that a challenge for researchers in the positive political economy of anarchism must confront is the difference between "emergence" and "development". There are plenty of examples of how institutions have emerged historically to enable complex contractual relationships to be realized (see, e.g., the work by Stringham (2003) on the rise of stock exchanges) but the historical reality is that the formal apparatus of state law and order did follow and lead to the greater development of these institutions. So is there an objective limit to "anarchy" or can do we see "anarchy unbound"?…”

“…The "how it works," question is answered by explicating the mechanism in operation. Stringham's (1999Stringham's ( , 2002Stringham's ( , 2003 work has tended to focus on how through the use of "club-like" arrangements, mechanisms of excluding potential bad traders takes place.…”