The Price of Legal Institutions: The Beratl Merchants in the Eighteenth-Century Ottoman Empire

• 成果类型: Article
• 署名作者: University of Arizona
• 刊物名称: JOURNAL OF ECONOMIC HISTORY
• ISSN/ISSBN: 0022-0507
• DOI: 10.1017/S0022050715001059
• 发表日期: 2015
• 页码: 720-748
• 关键词: imports; smyrna; TRADE

摘要

In the eighteenth century, European embassies in the Ottoman Empire started selling exemption licenses called berats, which granted non-Muslim Ottomans tax exemptions and the option to use European law. I construct a novel price panel for British and French licenses based on primary sources. The evidence reveals that prices were significantly high and varied across countries. Agents acquired multiple berats to enhance their legal options, which they exploited through strategic court switching. By the early 1800s, berat holders had driven other groups from European-Ottoman trade.