Capitolo

Managing risk in fifteenth-century Barcelona: The insurance practices of the merchant Joan de Torralba

  • María Dolores López Pérez
  • Sari Yehuda Nassar

This paper examines risk management strategies in 15th-century Barcelona through a quantitative and institutional analysis of Joan de Torralba’s maritime insurance operations. Drawing from 195 insurance cases recorded between 1434 and 1446, we reconstruct patterns of coverage, premium pricing, and Torralba’s dual role as both policyholder and underwriter. Combining systematic accounting analysis with econometric modelling, we show that insurance rates were shaped not only by cargo value but also by destination-specific perceptions of risk. The results highlight the emergence of rational pricing mechanisms, growing local control over insurance markets, and Barcelona’s integration into broader Mediterranean financial circuits. The study contributes to our understanding of early insurance as both protection and investment.

  • Keywords:
  • marine insurance,
  • risk management,
  • Joan de Torralba,
  • late medieval Mediterranean trad,
+ Mostra di più

María Dolores López Pérez

University of Barcelona, Spain - ORCID: 0000-0002-6184-5352

Sari Yehuda Nassar

University of Barcelona, Spain - ORCID: 0000-0001-5372-7594

  1. Abulafia, David, and María Dolores López Pérez. 2020. Mercados y espacios económicos en el siglo XV. El mundo del mercader Torralba. Barcelona: Publicacions i Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona.
  2. Acemoglu, Daron, Georgy Egorov, and Konstantin Sonin. 2021. “Institutional change and institutional persistence.” In The handbook of historical economics, 365-89. Amsterdam: Elsevier. DOI: 10.1016/B978-0-12-815874-6.00021-6
  3. Botticini, Maristella, Paola Buri, and Massimo Marinacci. 2023. “The beauty of uncertainty: the rise of insurance contracts and markets in Medieval Europe.” Journal of the European Economic Association 21, DOI: 10.1093/jeea/jvad059
  4. Carrère, Claude. 1977. Barcelona 1380-1462: Un centre econòmic en època de crisi. Barcelona: Curial.
  5. Casado Alonso, Hilario. 2009. “Viajes de negocios. Comercio regional y gran comercio en Castilla a fines de la Edad Media.” In Viajar en la Edad Media: XIX Semana de Estudios Medievales (Nájera), 305-34. Logroño: Instituto de Estudios Riojanos.
  6. Casado Alonso, Hilario. 2012. “Comercio y hombres de negocios castellanos y navarros en los inicios de la ‘Primera Edad Global’.” In En los umbrales de España. La incorporación del Reino de Navarra a la monarquía hispana, 333-70. Pamplona: Gobierno de Navarra.
  7. Casado Alonso, Hilario. 2015. “Circuitos comerciales y flujos financieros en Castilla a fines de la Edad Media e inicios de la Modernidad.” In Estados y mercados financieros en el occidente cristiano (siglos XIII-XVI), 273-307. Pamplona: Gobierno de Navarra.
  8. Cevolini, Alberto. 2016. “Time construction in insurance society.” Journal of Historical Sociology 29, 2: 160-81. DOI: 10.1111/johs.12079
  9. Del Treppo, Mario. 1972. I mercanti catalani e l’espansione della Corona d’Aragona nel secolo XV. Napoli: L’Arte Tipografica.
  10. Garcia i Sanz, Arcadi, and Maria Teresa Ferrer i Mallol. 1983. Assegurances i canvis marítims medievals a Barcelona. Barcelona: Institut d’Estudis Catalans.
  11. García, Arcadi. 1971. “Ordinacions inèdites de Barcelona i Perpinyà sobre assegurances marítimes.” Estudis Històrics i Documents dels Arxius de Protocols 4: 123-41.
  12. Greif, Avner. 1997. “Contracting, enforcement, and efficiency: economics beyond the law.” In Annual World Bank Conference on Development Economics, ed. Michael Bruno, and Boris Pleskovic, 239-65. Washington, DC: World Bank.
  13. Greif, Avner. 2006. Institutions and the path to the modern economy: lessons from medieval trade. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. DOI: 10.1017/CBO9780511791307
  14. Greif, Avner. 2025. “Commitment, coercion, and markets: the nature and dynamics of institutions supporting exchange.” In Handbook of new institutional economics, ed. Claude Ménard, and Mary M. Shirley, 811-68. Cham: Springer Nature Switzerland. DOI: 10.1007/978-3-031-50810-3_32
  15. Kingston, Christopher. 2014. “Governance and institutional change in marine insurance, 1350-1850.” European Review of Economic History 18, 1: 1-18. DOI: 10.1093/ereh/het019
  16. Knight, Frank Hyneman. 1921. Risk, uncertainty and profit. Boston-New York: Houghton Mifflin Company.
  17. López Pérez, María Dolores. 2013. “La compañía Torralba y las redes de distribución de la lana en el norte de Italia (1433–1434).” In A l’entorn de la Barcelona medieval: estudis dedicats a la doctora Josefina Mutgé i Vives, 313-32. Madrid: Editorial CSIC.
  18. López Pérez, María Dolores, and Sari Nassar. 2024. “Late medieval administration and bookkeeping in the Crown of Aragon: Torralba’s company.” Journal of Evolutionary Studies in Business 11, 1: 43-71. DOI: 10.1344/jesb.44656
  19. López Pérez, María Dolores, Elena Basso, Guillem Marí Brull, and Ester Travé Allepuz. 2019. De Aragón a Venecia. El «Llibre major de comerç de llana blanca amb Itàlia» de la compañía Torralba (1433-1434). Barcelona: Publicacions i Edicions de la Universitat de Barcelona.
  20. López Pérez, María Dolores, Isabel Casado Novas, Guillem Marí Brull, and Karla Álvaro Rueda. 2022. “Ragusa (Dubrovnik) en las redes comerciales del Mediterráneo Occidental: Los negocios de la compañía Torralba (siglo XV).” Anales de la Universidad de Alicante. Historia Medieval 23: 131-59. DOI: 10.14198/medieval.21467
  21. Peláez, María José. 1989. “La normativa de seguros más antigua de España: Las ordenanzas de seguros marítimos de Barcelona de 1432.” In Homenatge a la memòria del professor Dr. Emilio Sdez, 171-88. Barcelona: Institució Milà i Fontanals-Universitat de Barcelona.
  22. Schumpeter, Joseph Alois, and Richard Swedberg. 2005. Capitalism, socialism and democracy. London: Routledge.
  23. Sent, Esther-Mirjam. 2018. “Rationality and bounded rationality: you can’t have one without the other.” The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought 25, 6: 1370-86. DOI: 10.1080/09672567.2018.1523206
  24. Soldani, Maria Elisa. 2001. “Assicurazioni marittime e commerci a Barcellona attraverso lo studio del Manual d’assegurances marítimes (1428-1429) di Bartomeu Masons.” Estudis Històrics i Documents dels Arxius de Protocols XIX: 107-44.
PDF
  • Anno di pubblicazione: 2026
  • Pagine: 381-407

XML
  • Anno di pubblicazione: 2026

Informazioni sul capitolo

Titolo del capitolo

Managing risk in fifteenth-century Barcelona: The insurance practices of the merchant Joan de Torralba

Autori

María Dolores López Pérez, Sari Yehuda Nassar

Lingua

Inglese

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0963-2.24

Opera sottoposta a peer review

Anno di pubblicazione

2026

Copyright

© 2026 Author(s)

Licenza d'uso

CC BY 4.0

Licenza dei metadati

CC0 1.0

Informazioni bibliografiche

Titolo del libro

Gestione del rischio, insolvenza e bancarotta nel mondo premoderno (secc. XIII-XVIII) / Risk management, insolvency, and bankruptcy in the pre-modern world (13th-18th centuries)

Curatori

Angela Orlandi

Opera sottoposta a peer review

Numero di pagine

568

Anno di pubblicazione

2026

Copyright

© 2026 Author(s)

Licenza d'uso

CC BY 4.0

Licenza dei metadati

CC0 1.0

Editore

Firenze University Press

DOI

10.36253/979-12-215-0963-2

ISBN Print

979-12-215-0962-5

eISBN (pdf)

979-12-215-0963-2

eISBN (xml)

979-12-215-0964-9

Collana

Datini Studies in Economic History

ISSN della collana

2975-1241

e-ISSN della collana

2975-1195

0

Download dei libri

0

Visualizzazioni

Salva la citazione

1.478

Libri in accesso aperto

in catalogo

3.135

Capitoli di Libri

5.520.658

Download dei libri

5.420

Autori

da 1180 Istituzioni e centri di ricerca

di 66 Nazioni

77

scientific boards

da 411 Istituzioni e centri di ricerca

di 46 Nazioni

1.316

I referee

da 405 Istituzioni e centri di ricerca

di 39 Nazioni