Governance and institutional change in marine insurance, 1350-1850

Abstract

This article explores the development and diusion of market governance institutions in the marine insurance industry as the practice of insurance spread from its early origins in medieval Italy throughout the Atlantic world. Informal governance mechanisms provided the foundation for the development of insurance law administered by specialist courts. Eorts to tax and regulate the industry frequently met with limited success, both because of interjurisdictional competition and because merchants and brokers could to some extent opt out of the formal system. The divergence in organizational form between Britain and other countries, brought about in part by Britain’s Bubble Act of 1720, illustrates the potential for path-dependent institutional change.