Historical property rights, sociality, and the emergence of impersonal exchange in long-distance trade
成果类型：
Article
署名作者：
Kimbrough, Erik O.; Smith, Vernon L.; Wilson, Bart J.
署名单位：
George Mason University; Chapman University System; Chapman University
刊物名称：
AMERICAN ECONOMIC REVIEW
ISSN/ISSBN：
0002-8282
DOI：
10.1257/aer.98.3.1009
发表日期：
2008
页码：
1009-1039
关键词：
摘要：
This laboratory experiment explores the extent to which impersonal exchange emerges from personal exchange with opportunities for long-distance trade. We design a three-commodity production and exchange economy in which agents in three geographically separated villages must develop multilateral exchange networks to import a good only available abroad. For treatments, we induce two distinct institutional histories to investigate how past experience with property rights affects the evolution of specialization and exchange. We find that a history of unenforced property rights hinders our subjects' ability to develop the requisite personal social arrangements to support specialization and effectively exploit impersonal long-distance trade.