The purpose of this research is to analyze the emergence, operation, and evolution of non-market institutions which arose in Genoa and England during the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. Two types of transactions central to trade and trade efficiency will be analyzed. The first transaction to be examined is the provision of the services required in handling goods abroad, while the second transaction is the organization of the provisions governing exchange of goods abroad (e.g., credit arrangements). Neither transaction could be organized through the anonymous market nor supervised by the legal system in these two historical episodes. An extensive documentary search will be conducted in order to identify the nature of the institutions that governed these transactions. To facilitate the empirical research, asymmetric information models of the organizational problems associated with these transactions will be constructed. This research is important because the study departs from a long tradition in economic history that emphasized the contribution of the market mechanism to European growth. Thus, this research may shed important new light on the European development process which will enhance our understanding of the transition from less developed to more developed economies in general.
