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- Publications
- Influence
Contract Enforceability and Economic Institutions in Early Trade: the Maghribi Traders' Coalition
- Avner Greif
- Economics, Business
- 1993
This paper presents an economic institution which enabled eleventh-century traders to benefit from employing overseas agents despite the commitment problem inherent in these relations. Agency… Expand
Cultural Beliefs and the Organization of Society: A Historical and Theoretical Reflection on Collectivist and Individualist Societies
- Avner Greif
- Economics
- Journal of Political Economy
- 1 October 1994
Lacking an appropriate theoretical framework, economists and economic historians have paid little attention to the relations between culture and institutional structure. This limits the ability to… Expand
Institutions and the Path to the Modern Economy: Lessons from Medieval Trade (an Excerpt)
- Avner Greif
- Sociology, Political Science
- 2006
Varieties in economics, politics and societies are widely considered to be resulted from the influence of different institutions. However, economists, political scientists, and sociologists do not… Expand
Reputation and Coalitions in Medieval Trade: Evidence on the Maghribi Traders
- Avner Greif
- Economics
- 1 December 1989
This article examines the economic institution utilized during the eleventh century to facilitate complex trade characterized by asymmetric information and limited legal contract enforceability. The… Expand
Coordination, Commitment, and Enforcement: The Case of the Merchant Guild
- Avner Greif, P. Milgrom, B. Weingast
- Economics
- Journal of Political Economy
- 1 August 1994
We interpret historical evidence in light of a repeated-game model to conclude that merchant guilds emerged during the late medieval period to allow rulers of trade centers to commit to the security… Expand
Commitment, Coercion and Markets: The Nature and Dynamics of Institutions Supporting Exchange
- Avner Greif
- Business
- 14 June 2005
This paper examines, theoretically and historically the factors determining market expansion, that is, the extent to which impersonal exchange among more individuals in more transactions over time… Expand
A Theory of Endogenous Institutional Change
- Avner Greif, D. Laitin
- Economics
- American Political Science Review
- 1 July 2004
This paper asks (a) why and how institutions change, (b) how an institution persists in a changing environment, and (c) how processes that it unleashes lead to its own demise. The paper shows that… Expand
Family Structure, Institutions, and Growth: The Origins and Implications of Western Corporations
- Avner Greif
- Economics
- 17 January 2006
This paper traces the origins and the growth implications of one of the most fundamental institutional changes in history. What constituted this change was the emergence of the economic and political… Expand
History Lessons The Birth of Impersonal Exchange: The Community Responsibility System and Impartial Justice
- Avner Greif
- Economics, Political Science
- 1 May 2006
This paper describes the premodern European institution that supported impersonal exchange, in which a merchant's decision to exchange is independent either of expectations of future exchange with… Expand