Social capital, institutional innovation and Atlantic trade before 1800

Pearson, Robin; Richardson, David

Abstract

The growth of the Atlantic economy during the eighteenth century has been associated with developments in business networking to mitigate the hazards of communication in long-distance trade. Such social capital-based mechanisms reduced transaction costs, but also proved to have their limitations in the changing conditions of eighteenth-century international trade. This paper argues, using the example of the British slave trade, that efforts to innovate less personalised forms of commercial exchange gave those prepared to do so a considerable competitive advantage, and promoted the unprecedented expansion of that trade between 1750 and 1807. We suggest that this shift may be viewed as a precursor of modernising tendencies in business practice in Britain during the industrial revolution.

Citation

Pearson, R., & Richardson, D. (2008). Social capital, institutional innovation and Atlantic trade before 1800. Business history, 50(6), 765-780. https://doi.org/10.1080/00076790802420336

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Nov 6, 2008
• Publication Date: 2008-11
• Deposit Date: Nov 13, 2014
• Journal: Business History
• Print ISSN: 0007-6791
• Publisher: Routledge
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 50
• Issue: 6
• Article Number: PII 905115013
• Pages: 765-780
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/00076790802420336
• Keywords: Business, Management and Accounting (miscellaneous); Business and International Management; History
• Public URL: https://hull-repository.worktribe.com/output/460478
• Contract Date: Nov 13, 2014