The amazing synchronicity of the Global Development (the 1300s-1450s). An institutional approach to the globalization of the late Middle Ages

Badalian, Lucy and Krivorotov, Victor (2010) The amazing synchronicity of the Global Development (the 1300s-1450s). An institutional approach to the globalization of the late Middle Ages. Economic History Working Papers (139/10). Department of Economic History, London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK.

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Abstract

In a new approach to a long-ranging debate on the causes of the Late Medieval Debasement, we offer an institutional case-study of Russia and the Levant. Avoiding the complexity of the “upstream” financial/minting centres of Western Europe, we consider the effects of debasement “downstream”, in resource-exporting periphery countries. The paper shows the amazing synchronicity of the worldwide appearance of the early modern trading system, associated with capitalism or commercial society. The centre-periphery feedback loop amplified trends and pushed towards economic and institutional changes. This is illustrated via the Hanseatic-Novgorodian and Italian-Levantine trade – under growing market pressure of the exploding transaction costs, the oligopolies gradually dissolved and were replaced by the British-Dutch traders. In this case-study the late-medieval/early-modern monetary integration served as the transitional institutional base for reducing transaction costs during a dramatic global shift. Highlighting centre-periphery links, a new trading outpost of Arkhangelsk rose synchronously with Amsterdam.

Item Type:	Monograph (Working Paper)
Official URL:	http://www2.lse.ac.uk/economicHistory/workingPaper...
Additional Information:	© 2010 The authors
Divisions:	Economic History
Subjects:	H Social Sciences > HC Economic History and Conditions D History General and Old World > D History (General) > D111 Medieval History
Date Deposited:	11 May 2010 15:25
Last Modified:	11 Dec 2024 18:59
URI:	http://eprints.lse.ac.uk/id/eprint/27906

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