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Governance and institutional change in marine insurance, 1350-1850

Kingston, Christopher G. (Department of Economics, Amherst College)

This article explores the development and diffusion of market governance institutions in the marine insurance industry as the practice of insurance spread from its early origins in medieval Italy throughout the Atlantic world. Informal governance mechanisms provided the foundation for the development of insurance law administered by specialist courts. Efforts to tax and regulate the industry frequently met with limited success, both because of interjurisdictional competition and because merchants and brokers could to some extent opt out of the formal system. The divergence in organizational form across countries illustrates the potential for path-dependent institutional change.