By specifying the specie on which returns were to be repaid respondentia was an efficient instrument to carry trade in which silver was «essential» for the continuation of commerce. As silver was imported as specie, where a multiplicity of means of payments existed and silver was the preferred money, it performed as foreign currency. Without common standards for foreign coins created issues for trade, the pricing of specie, and exchange rates. Eighteenth century Europeans alternatively used respondentia or bills depending on the monetary context, casting a doubt on the inherent efficiency of a cashless means of payment. Bills of exchange did not circulate outside Europe where cash had a premium. As the intermediary Europe developed means to regulate the price of foreign coins and exchange rates. Elsewhere respondentia had an advantage over bills; it allowed to hedge against uncertainty and propitiated arbitrage profits.
LSE, London School of Economics, United Kingdom - ORCID: 0000-0001-5395-1537
Titolo del capitolo
Respondentia: The alternative contract for global trade finance in the Early Modern period
Autori
Alejandra Irigoin
Lingua
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0347-0.30
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Anno di pubblicazione
2024
Copyright
© 2024 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Titolo del libro
Mezzi di scambio non monetari. Merci e servizi come monete alternative nelle economie dei secoli XIII-XVIII / Alternative currencies. Commodities and services as exchange currencies in the monetarized economies of the 13th to 18th centuries
Curatori
Angela Orlandi
Opera sottoposta a peer review
Numero di pagine
592
Anno di pubblicazione
2024
Copyright
© 2024 Author(s)
Licenza d'uso
Licenza dei metadati
Editore
Firenze University Press
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0347-0
ISBN Print
979-12-215-0346-3
eISBN (pdf)
979-12-215-0347-0
eISBN (xml)
979-12-215-0348-7
Collana
Datini Studies in Economic History
ISSN della collana
2975-1241
e-ISSN della collana
2975-1195