Roundtable. Risk, uncertainty and bankruptcy before modernity: Language, experience and historical understanding
- Càtia Antunes
- Dave De Ruysscher
- Thomas Max Safley
- Tanja Skambraks
- © 2026 Author(s) |
- CC BY 4.0
- DOI: 10.36253/979-12-215-0963-2.32
This article examines risk, uncertainty, and bankruptcy before modernity, emphasizing the need for historically precise language and contextual analysis. It distinguishes risk from uncertainty in the absence of probabilistic calculation, questions anachronistic applications of modern economic theory, and advocates combining quantitative approaches with microhistorical analysis. By broadening the social and geographical scope beyond elite European actors, it reconstructs how premodern societies understood and managed economic hazards.
- Keywords:
- risk and uncertainty,
- bankruptcy,
- premodern economies,
- historical semantics,
- resilience,
Leiden University, Netherlands - ORCID: 0000-0003-4343-029X
Tilburg University, Netherlands - ORCID: 0000-0001-7675-5475
University of Pennsylvania, United States
University of Graz, Austria - ORCID: 0009-0006-2185-7013
Chapter Information
Chapter Title
Roundtable. Risk, uncertainty and bankruptcy before modernity: Language, experience and historical understanding
Authors
Càtia Antunes, Dave De Ruysscher, Thomas Max Safley, Tanja Skambraks
Language
English
DOI
10.36253/979-12-215-0963-2.32
Peer Reviewed
Publication Year
2026
Copyright Information
© 2026 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Bibliographic Information
Book Title
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)
Editors
Angela Orlandi
Peer Reviewed
Number of Pages
568
Publication Year
2026
Copyright Information
© 2026 Author(s)
Content License
Metadata License
Publisher Name
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
Series Title
Datini Studies in Economic History
Series ISSN
2975-1241
Series E-ISSN
2975-1195